


Do Gods fear Death?

by TheDiamondFox



Category: Overlord - Maruyama Kugane & Related Fandoms, この素晴らしい世界に祝福を! | KonoSuba: God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! - All Media Types, 幼女戦記 | Youjo Senki | Saga of Tanya the Evil (Anime)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:26:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 40,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27485743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDiamondFox/pseuds/TheDiamondFox
Summary: Something has entered the world of Konosuba, and has further upset the precarious balance the God's have tried to fix. Now, out of options and with no place to go, the gods are pulling out all the stops. Let's see what happens when Kazuma and the gang meet the Sorcerer King, and how far will the gods go to eliminate something that threatens their very hold on the world. Featuring the Cast of Konosuba, Overlord, and maybe more, let's see how the Ruler of Nazerick handles himself in this Wonderful World.
Comments: 66
Kudos: 169





	1. Initial Impact

**Author's Note:**

> For those that want an accurate timeline, this takes place in in the prolonged period where Megumin and Kazuma go off and blow up Verdia's castle (Middle of Season 1 Episode 4 of the anime. I'm an anime pleb. I know). The Overlord timeline is after the conclusion of Season 1 (Easiest way to remove him from the world without fucking stuff up too bad). Note that for this fanfiction, Nazerick is in possession of the Downfall of Castle and Country. Details may be explained later, but for now just sit back and read.

“Fuck,” said the Demon King, slamming his head down on the stone meeting table. Normally, the impact for a standard mortal would do nothing. However, instead multiple goblets and plates were disturbed upon the impact. The entire table was oblivious to this, instead choosing to pursue their own intentions. Sylvia and Hans were arguing over gods know what, most likely over which of their assignments were more important, or even who treats their servants worse. Verdia was in the corner, his head on the table, egging them on with taunts and jeers. Vanir was by his side, only grinning wildly as he fed off the tension of the room and the misery of the Demon King. Only the Demon King’s daughter held any type of composure, but even then she was visibly getting angrier at the proceedings. Only his sudden action broke her out of her silent brooding to stare at him in shock. 

He waved at her dismissively. “I am fine,” he said tiredly, his head still on the table. 

It was supposed to be a meeting to discuss their assignments, with each of them stating their status on each of their projects. However, it quickly dissolved into a shouting match between Sylvia and Hans over their own projects, and now it escalated to this. 

The Demon King slammed his fist down on the table, causing a wave of fire to engulf the surface of the table and disintegrate it’s contents. All the generals finally stopped their squabbling and quieted down, although Sylvia and Hans were still visibly glaring daggers at each other.

The Demon King raised his head. “I called you here to hear your reports on your activities, not give me a migraine,” he said, annoyance flaking his tone. 

At least Verdia had the decency to look somewhat ashamed. Sylvia and Hans decided to turn away from each other’s gaze. Vanir’s smile only seemed to widen. 

The Demon King sighed. “Alright, Verdia.”

Verdia seemed to sit up straighter. 

“What’s your status on…”

Suddenly, a shockwave of energy coursed through everyone at the table. All the generals present and the Demon King collapsed. _What the hell!?!_ Was the only thought that coursed through his mind as he felt his mana and _soul_ (somehow) scream in agony. His head and heart felt as though they were trying to jump out of his chest, and his _mana_ felt as if it were burning in every fiber of his being. He clutched his head and chest for a solid ten seconds as the pain grew intense. Suddenly, just as quickly as it started, the pain stopped. With a shaky hand, he gripped the table and rose to a shaky stand. His generals were in a similar state, each trying to come to terms with what just happened. Even Vanir was devoid of his usual smug smile, instead looking extremely distressed at what just happened. Verdia’s head was still on the table, and it vocalized what everyone was thinking, “What the hell just happened?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Kazuma!!!” cried Aqua. 

“For the last time, you stupid goddess, the answer is no!” returned Kazuma Satou. “You’ve already put us in debt with your drinking habits! I’m not going to have you waste the only bit of money we have left!” 

Kazuma felt a small tug on his mantle. He turned to see Megumin staring at him pleadingly at him, her crimson eyes staring wantingly, almost pleadingly, as if to ask…

“No, I’m not buying you a _fourth_ robe,” said Kazuma tersely. Megumin’s gaze hardened, and she turned away, pouting cutely.

Kazuma blinked. Did he just think “cutely?”

“Kazuma, Kazuma!” cried Darkness behind him. “Scold me next! I’m sure I have some exorbitant and unneeded purchase that is surely not required!”

Both Megumin and Aqua turn to glare at Darkness, who melted under their combined gaze.

Kazuma groaned audibly.

“Sometimes I wonder why I even put up with you guys,” he muttered to himself.

The party was currently walking from the Adventurer's Guild, with a fresh pouch of gold to boot. Naturally, Aqua’s first reaction was to immediately spend it on booze. Somehow, Kazuma managed to successfully keep the coin purse out of the goddess’ hands, and was desperately fighting off both her and Megumin’s attempts at acquiring the pouch. 

“FINE!” cried Kazuma, opening the pouch and extracting three silver Eris from it. “Go get yourself your damn drink!”

Aqua stared at the three silver eris.

“That’s not enough to even get me a bottle you stupid NEET,” said Aqua amusingly. 

Kazuma saw red. “THE NEXT TIME YOU GET A BOTTLE OF ANYTHING IT BETTER BE FOR…” 

He stopped as a shockwave rolled over him. Aqua and Megumin stopped, too. In fact, every magic caster in the area stopped what they were doing. Suddenly, Kazuma and Megumin collapsed as a mountain of pain washed over them. Kazuma clutched his head pathetically as he felt his head and heart try and leap out of his body. He looked and saw Megumin hugging her torso, and saw Aqua…

He didn’t know what was happening to Aqua.

Aqua’s arms and legs were jutting out at odd angles, almost like TV static. Her face was uncharacteristically blank, but her eyes seemed to convey her silent agony. He looked, his vision beginning to blur from the pain, at a bewildered Darkness, who was staring at Aqua’s rapidly distorting form, and Megumin and Kazuma’s collapsed bodies. Suddenly, Kazuma felt the pain disappear. He also noticed Aqua’s form reasserting itself, only for her to collapse onto the ground, shaking. For a solid minute, they sat there. Kazuma the worked up the strength to pick himself up, only to release the lunch he had in his stomach. Megumin had a bit more self control, but her shaking seemed to increase. As for Aqua, she continued to lay on the ground, her skin rather pale.

“Aqua,” Kazuma asked warily, suppressing a burp. “What was that?”

Aqua murmured something quietly.

“What?”

“I don’t know,” she said, slightly louder.

Kazuma paled. How could she, a _goddess_ (albeit a useless one), not know what _that_ was. 

“What?”

Aqua looked at Kazuma with something in her eyes he had never seen before.

Fear. 

“That,” she said shakily, “was something entering this world.”

Kazuma paled at the next words she muttered.

“Something beyond even the god’s power.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Raise your heads,” stated Ainz Ooal Gown towards the procession in front of him. Before him knelt the six floor guardians of Nazerick. Power radiated from them like heat to a candle, and yet they knelt with unwavering obedience to their ruler. Ainz noted that, despite his order to assemble the Floor Guard Guardians, the Pleiades (Excluding Solution) also knelt before their master. 

One by one, each floor guardian raised their heads to meet the gaze of their ruler.

“In the face of danger, you all persevered,” said Ainz, his deepened voice echoing through the halls. “And have carried my plans out precisely as instructed.”

“My _lord_ ,” cried Demiurge, his voice ringing with religious zeal. “We do not deserve such praise!”

“Nonsense, Demiurge.” Ainz turned to the Arch-Devil. “You all are to be commended for your work in each of your assignments.”

Ainz shifted in his throne. “In fact, your research into potential replacements for Scroll Parchment has bared fruit, has it not?”

Demiurge bowed his head. “It has, my lord.”

Ainz nodded his head in acknowledgement. He then turned to Aura.

“Aura,” he stated. “How is the progress on the dummy Nazerick?”

Aura’s eyes sparkled with youthful enthusiasm. “Everything is going according to plan, my lord!” she said excitedly. 

Ainz nodded again, satisfied.

He then turned to Shalltear. Unlike the other Floor Guardians, the moment he met her gaze she bowed her head in shame and defeat.

“Shalltear,” he said quietly. He noticed a shiver wracking through her body.

“Shalltear!” said Albedo tersely. “You will look your master in the eyes when he speaks to you!”

Shalltear, with the enthusiasm of a sloth, slowly raised her head to meet Ainz’s gaze. 

Ainz’s internally squirmed. She looked awful. Her normally composed and smooth dress was wrinkled. Her eyes had bags under them so large they would have been considered carry-on luggage. A faint dribble of alcohol was noticed at the edge of her mouth. 

“Shalltear,” he said again. “What happened to you was nothing short of…”

“It was my failure as a guardian, my lord!” shouted Shalltear.

A furious aura surrounded Albedo, but Ainz waved her off with a gesture.

“Shalltear, what happened to you was my own folly,” said Ainz. “My failure to anticipate the existence of World Items in this world resulted in…”

“I should have been more careful, lord,” interrupted Shalltear again. This time, Albedo’s anger was spreading to the rest of the guardians. 

“You dare interrupt the…”

“Silence, Albedo!” cried Ainz, his voice ringing with authority. 

Albedo quickly clamped her mouth shut.

“Shalltear, for the last time, I…” Ainz paused as something caught his eye. He shifted his gaze from the ashamed Shalltear to something that caused him to give a start. The Floor Guardians followed his gaze, and similarly paused in shock at what they saw. 

Solution Epsilon and Sebas Tian stood in the center of the throne room, looking just as shocked to be there as the floor guardians were to see them there.

“Sebas,” came Ainz’s voice. “What is the meaning…”

Just as he was about to ask the question on all of the Floor Guardian’s minds, an earthquake shook the throne room. Just as the earthquake started, Ainz felt a massive pain in his head and chest. Suddenly, his vision darkened, and he thought he heard the scream of Albedo, only he found it hard to concentrate through the massive pain. Suddenly, just as quickly as it had started, the earthquake stopped, and the pain in Ainz’s body began to fade. As his vision cleared, he felt himself held up by the combined forces of Demiurge and Albedo. As they helped him back into his throne, he vocalized the only question going through his head: “What was that?”


	2. A Vampire in Distress

Ainz sat back in his throne, attempting to grasp what just happened. Following the earthquake and the sudden collapse of their lord, the guardians naturally became frantic. Even Ainz’s subsequent return to consciousness didn’t stop the obvious fear, nor the impending pandemonium among the guardians. 

Albedo looked visibly distressed at what had transpired. Her face looked ashen and apprehensive, and she never took her worrying gaze off of Ainz. Despite that, she maintained her composure, although there did seem to be small tears welling behind her eyes.

Demiurge was in a similar case. While he also seemed to maintain his composure, even going so far as to incline his head slightly forward so as to hide his eyes through the glare in his glasses, his tail flicked from side to side, almost like a nervous cat. 

Cocytus looked naturally complacent, however the rattling of his exoskeleton told everyone that he was nonetheless nervous. 

The Pleiades were visibly trying and failing to maintain their composure. While some were pulling it off more than others, such as the case for Yuri Alpha, who Ainz knew was blessed with the same emotion dampening that he had, others like Lupusregina Beta and Entoma were in dire straights, with the former on the verge of tears and the latter trying and failing to keep her bugs under control. Even Sebas was visibility trying to maintain his composure, although the visible shaking and fidgeting of his hands showed his true thinkings.

The Twins were cradling each other, with Mare visibly wiping his tears away while Aura looked to Ainz with a tearful and worrying gaze.

However, the worst was Shalltear.

Her guilt over her failure, combined with the fact that Ainz seemed to have almost died, seemed to finally hit the nail on the coffin for her emotional state. Not even meeting his eyes, her body was visibly shaking from distress, and tears poured from her eyes at an alarming rate. Even though she had the decency to try and hide it, Ainz could tell her mental condition was in serious jeopardy.

As for Nazerick, not one speck of damage could be seen. The earthquake seemed to have left the throne room unscathed. Not even a particle of dust could be seen on the illustrious red carpet leading to his throne.

Ainz, taking a moment to mentally compose himself, stood up from his throne.

Both Albedo and Demiurge startled for a moment, then proceeded to compose themselves into a dignified manner.

“Guardians,” he pronounced grandly. “Compose yourselves.”

One by one, each guardian wiped away their tears and attempted to shake off the fear they felt for their master. 

Ainz looked to Sebas and the Pleiades. “Have the Maids and yourself search the 9th and 10th floors for potential intruders.”

All Guardians stared at him in shock.

“If someone had entered Nazerick to cause such a commotion, they need to be located and dealt with,” Ainz explained.

Sebas and the Maids nodded. 

Ainz turned to Cocytus.

“Cocytus, you will lead the search parties to find any intruders that may have entered through the lower floors.”

“It. Will. Be. Done. My. Lord.” responded Cocytus dutifully.

Ainz’s gaze turned to the twins.

“Aura, I need you to send monsters outside. If there are any culprits, they need to be located immediately.”

Aura nodded, standing up from her position.

Ainz then stood back, making him call the attention of the other guardians.

“Until this matter is resolved, Nazerick is on high alert! Maintain your guard, and make sure no one unknown to us leaves!”

“Lord!” cried the Guardians in unison. One by one, Cocytus, the Pleiades, and Aura all left for their respective locations.

As in afterthought, Ainz added, “Mare. Perhaps you should check the 6th floor. I imagine if there was an intruder, that location would be their most likely hiding space.”

Mare wiped away the last of his tears and nodded dutifully before running off.

Ainz watched them leave, then sat back in his throne.

“Demiurge, talk to me,” said Ainz tiredly.

Demiurge looked taken aback by how informal Ainz had spoken to him.

Ainz hurriedly corrected himself.

“I mean, explain to me your thoughts,” he said hurriedly.

Demiurge recomposed himself, then proceeded to put his hand to his chin thoughtfully.

“Well,” he said, his thoughts racing. “If there truly was an intruder, I doubt they would have been able to do what just transpired.”

Ainz mentally reeled, although he managed to maintain his composure.

Albedo lacked that steel, and hardened her gaze.

“You question the words of the Supreme One?” she asked threateningly.

Demiurge smiled his condescendingly devilish smile.

“You misunderstand, Albedo,” he said, as if lecturing a child. “It is my belief that Lord Ainz knew this all along.”

 _What!?!_ cried Ainz mentally. _God damn it, Demiurge. I honestly thought it_ was _an intruder!_

Demiurge shook his head amusedly as Albedo took on a look of utter confusion.

“A-as expected of you, Demiurge!” said Ainz hurriedly. “You caught on to my true thinking!”

Demiurge inclined his head humbly.

“It was evident the moment you gave the floor guardians their orders,” said Demiurge. “Such mastery, such clever delivery! I am truly blessed to bear witness to your work!”

 _What is he talking about!?!_ Cried Ainz mentally.

“Demiurge,” said Ainz authoritatively. “I will allow you to explain my plan as you see it to Albedo and…”

Ainz paused as he realized that Shalltear was still in the room. She was the only guardian that was unable to compose themselves. 

_Shit,_ thought Ainz. _I completely forgot to give her marching orders._

“Shalltear,” said Ainz, combining both force and sympathy into his voice.

Shalltear reluctantly raised her head. Tears were still streaming down her face, and her bottom lip was quivering. Ainz could see at the corner of his eye Albedo’s face contort into a look of pure disgust.

“Shalltear, compose yourself before your master!” shouted Albedo angrily.

Ainz mentally winced as he saw a _very_ visible attempt for the poor vampire to compose herself, but soon the combined shame and fear that she was feeling caused the waterworks to flow again.

 _Damn it,_ thought Ainz as she collapsed to the floor again, bawling her eyes out. _She won’t get better if I force it_. 

Ainz stood from his throne and walked towards the bawling Shalltear. He slowly knelt down to her position, picked her up with his outstretched hands, and carried her into her arms. Shalltear paused for a moment in her sorrow to stare with shock at Ainz as he pulled her into his arms.

“Shalltear,” he said soothingly, “it’s okay.”

She looked at Ainz, tears welling up in her eyes.

“I’m fine. You didn’t fail me, and I’m not hurt.”

Shalltear’s bottom lip quivered as she looked into Ainz’s benevolent gaze.

“I did fail you,” she whispered quietly in between sobs. “I almost killed yo…”

Before she could finish, Ainz pulled her into a tight hug. Shalltear’s eyes widened in shock as she felt the embrace of the Supreme Being. For a solid minute they sat there, embraced as a father would his daughter, until Ainz gently placed Shalltear back down on the spot where she previously sat.

“Do you feel better now?” Ainz asked softly.

Shalltear nodded mutely, surprised by what just happened.

Ainz nodded, then returned to his throne.

Ainz then mentally took a step back as he looked at Albedo.

Her eyes were crazed with jealous anger, her wings were flexing and fluffing themselves, and if looks could kill, Shalltear would have likely been smited by a 10th tier spell under Albedo’s gaze.

“Albedo,” said Ainz chidingly.

At once, her jealousy and anger dissipated. She smiled lovingly.

Ainz sighed as he returned as he returned to his seat. 

“Now, as I was saying Demiurge,” continued Ainz. “I will allow you to explain my plan as you see it to those present.”

Demiurge bowed respectfully.

“Now then, as we could tell from Lord Ainz’s actions today…”

Suddenly, Ainz got a ping from the [Message] spell.

“Hold that thought, Demiurge,” said Ainz, holding up a finger.

Demiurge looked flustered, but nonetheless bowed and silenced himself.

Ainz put a finger to his temple. “Who is this?”

“It’s Aura, my lord,” said the youthful voice on the other end.

“Ah,” said Ainz, mildly surprised. “Did you find something?”

“Well,” said Aura, hesitancy bleeding itself into her voice.

 _Uh oh_.

“You may want to take a look at this, Lord Ainz.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. Heartwarming! Makes your heart feel all fuzzy inside! Anyway, next chapter will be Konosuba. This will probably be rather consistent, with every chapter switching either locations or anime. Anyway, comments and critique are always appreciated!


	3. What Gods Fear

Pandemonium. Absolute pandemonium. That was the only thing that ran through Kazuma’s head as he and his party walked through the Adventurer’s Guild’s door. After Aqua’s ominous announcement, Darkness thought it would be the best idea to ask Luna what happened. After all, the Adventurer’s Guild seemed to have extensive knowledge on the goings of the castle. Kazuma agreed, still trying to figure out what in _hell_ had just happened to him. Megumin also mutely agreed, even going so far as to forgo their daily explosion session on the castle in the woods. As for Aqua…

Kazuma didn’t know whether to feel worried or scared at her perpetually ashen face. Since her proclamation, she hadn’t muttered a word, only staring straight ahead regardless of what was in front of her. Kazuma could almost hear mutterings coming from her mouth, but they were quiet enough that he almost blamed it in his subconscious. However, nothing could prepare him for when they entered the Guild.

Whatever had happened to them, it wasn’t _only_ them.

Every spellcaster in Axel was standing at the front desk, expressions of worry, fear, or even anger plastered to their faces. Luna was evidently stressed as she was bombarded with questions.

“What was that?”

“Was that some type of spell?”

“What caused it?”

“Where did it come from?”

“Please,” cried Luna, almost desperately. “I’ve sent your questions to the capital! They have been notified of your concerns, and will answer all your questions in time!”

This answer did nothing to placate the crowd as more and more spellcasters joined the fray, anxious and evidently very worried as to what had happened. Kazuma looked over at Megumin’s shocked face and Darkness’...

_Oh great._

Even in a crisis, Darkness couldn’t contain her horniness. Her face was flushed as she witnessed the spellcasters push and pull, trying to get to the front desk. He could almost see her arms and legs contorting inward, as if you keep herself from letting herself loose. Kazuma turned to Aqua, only to be surprised as she moved away from the crowd and took a seat at one of the empty tables in the guild. Her expressionlessness was starting to get to him, and, shelving his curiosity and anxiousness, walked over and sat beside her.

“Aqua?” he asked tentatively. “Is there something wrong?”

Aqua’s quiet mutterings slightly rose in volume, and he could practically make out what she was saying.

“...can’t happen again. Not another one. We almost lost it. We can’t have another…”

“Can’t have another what, Aqua?” asked Kazuma calmly.

All at once, Aqua straightened up and forcefully grabbed Kazuma by his collar. Startled at Aqua’s seemingly immense strength, he looked at her, only to me her eyes, widened by such impossible fear.

“We can’t have another war!” cried Aqua, loud enough to startle passerby. “We almost lost this stupid world to Them! Countless Gods died to those demons! We can’t…”

Aqua loosened her grip as she choked on her tears. Meanwhile, Kazuma is more afraid of Aqua than ever before. He looked down at her sobbing form, her body shivering with what could only be described as inhuman fear. 

“We can’t,” she muttered quietly. “We can’t go through another Cleaving.”

Kazuma didn’t know why, but the sound of that word caused him to pale as his head raced with questions.

First and foremost was, _What the fuck is a Cleaving?_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Demon King slammed his fist down on the table. 

“Nothing?” he cried incredulously. 

The lesser demon standing before him shook his head frantically. Right now, he wanted to be anywhere but there. 

Containing his anger, the Demon King spouted a “Dismissed” to the lesser demon, before proceeding to flip the table he was sitting behind. Quite a feat considering the table was made of stone. And affixed to the floor.

The Demon King took a second to gain control of his emotions, before turning to the others seated before him. 

Verdia was to his far left, his head firmly grasped by his right hand. He probably didn’t like the fact that his head almost became a pancake by the Demon King’s outburst. Silvia was also present, but the absence of Hans resulted in her paying more attention to her ...* _ahem_ * ample bounty… rather than the proceedings. Wolbach was surprisingly present, but she had been unresponsive since the shockwave. She was slowly rocking back and forth, her knees pulled up to her chest, and muttering quietly to herself. The Demon King wondered what had caused her to go into her catatonic state, but nonetheless wave it off mentally. As for Vanir, he was nowhere to be seen. Ever since the shockwave, he had excused himself to Hell to double check on some “old intel,” as he put it. The Demon King had reluctantly allowed it, but he hadn;t been back since. As for the Demon King’s daughter, she stood by him, ever attentive, but obviously just as worried as he was.

“Verdia, you had your scouts check the town surrounding Axel?” inquired the Demon King.

Verdia inclined his head.

“From what I gathered, the woods surrounding Axel seemed to be ground zero for whatever happened.”

The Demon King sighed. “And do we know what happened?”

Verdia shook his head negatively.

The Demon King sighed again, then turned to Wolbach.

“Wolbach, we need some answers. Do you know what is going on?”

Wolbach paused in her mutterings to stare at the Demon King with unnervingly fearful eyes.

The Demon King squirmed in his seat, a feat most heroes would envy.

For a few seconds she stared at the Demon King, before returning her gaze to where the table used to be and resumed her muttering.

Suddenly, the sound of a teleportation spell sounded next to the Demon King. He turned to see the outline of Vanir taking shape.

“Ah, Vanir,” said the Demon King, relief flowing into his voice. “Finally, some good news. What was this old…” 

He stopped as Vanir materialized fully into view. Where Vanir’s normally jovial smile should have been, a frown deeper than any the Demon King had seen before was etched into his face.

The Demon King furrowed his brow. “Vanir?” he said inquisitively.

“It was a Cleaving,” said Vanir, his tone bland and informative, a far cry from his usually boisterous self.

Wolbach’s muttering ceased, and the Demon King turned to see her face pale to the color of a ghost. Slowly, her mutterings returned, only much faster. 

The Demon King looked between Vanir’s deep frown, to Wolbach’s incessant muttering, to the confused looks of the Generals present. The Demon King sat there blankly, trying to come up with at least _some_ semblance of a plan of action, when he felt a slight pain in his left temple.

The Demon King frowned. _That’s odd_ , he thought. _That only happens when a summon is killed._

The Demon King took a minute to ponder this. _What could have possibly killed a lesser demon?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we get to see the effect the shockwave has on gods, and what that possibly means for the world of Konosuba. This was a massive lore dump this early in the story, but don't expect this much in later chapters. Anyway, we're jumping back to Overlord in the next chapter, so we'll be seeing the results of my downright shameful cliffhanger from the previous chapter. Also, I appreciate the kudos and comment immensely. This is the first time I'm posting stories like this, so I appreciate all the support. Also, if you guys have any problems with either my writing style or my storytelling, let me know. I'm still learning a bit, so I'd appreciate all the help I can get!


	4. Discovery

Using the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown, Ainz quickly teleported himself to the surface. Once he appeared, he was quite surprised to find Aura standing in front of the entrance, with what looked to be an odd-looking imp.

“Lord Ainz!” exclaimed Aura excitedly. “I found this little guy patrolling the edge of Nazerick!”

Ainz nodded. “Well done, Aura,” he said, moving closer and patting her head appreciatively.

Aura blushed, then forced her gaze on the imp.

“Have you identified what it is?” asked Ainz, focusing his gaze on the creature.

“It seems to be some sort of imp, but I’ve never seen anything like it,” responded Aura.

Ainz took a second to analyze it. Aura was correct. It was very similar to the imps used in YGGDRASIL. However, those imps usually came in color variations of red and black. This one was an ugly purple. On top of that, it had two large horns adorned on its head, as well as knives in place of where it’s fingers should be.

“I recommend we take it back to Nazerick for experimentation,” said Ainz thoughtfully.

Aura nodded, only for the imp to try and struggle out of her grip. It’s knives dug into her skin, but didn’t pierce it. Nonetheless, Aura yelped and accidentally crushed the imp’s windpipe. With a strangled gasp, it fell limp. 

Aura looked shocked, then turned to Ainz apprehensively. “I’m so sorry, Lord Ainz!” cried Aura hurriedly. 

Ainz only laughed. “It’s perfectly alright,” he said, amused. “We can still take its corpse back for…”

Before he finished his sentence, the imp slowly started to turn to black powder. Before long, there was nothing but air left.

Ainz put his fingers to his chin in thought. “Huh,” was all he said.

 _It seems like it was some sort of summon_ , though Ainz. _Interesting that there are casters that can cast that sort of spell_. 

Ainz turned to Aura. “Was that all you wanted to show me?” he asked.

Aura shook her head hurriedly, before leading Ainz towards a certain location. As Ainz followed Aura, he took notice of the trees. Or, more specifically, the _type_ of trees. 

To the west of Carne Village, as well surrounding the Great Tomb of Nazerick at the time, was a massive forest that was said to house many magical and mighty creatures. Due to its location in the midwestern portion of the continent, the forest was populated by a healthy diversity of Redwood Oak, Sugar Maple, and Birch trees. Ainz could recall on multiple occasions the maids of Nazerick harvesting the tree sap for syrup to be used in meals.

The trees currently surrounding him were _fir_ trees.

As he followed Aura, many questions raced through his head.

_Did Nazerick get transported to another country?_

_Did the earthquake cause the trees to change?_

_How are we going to get maple syrup now?_

All those thoughts were dashed away as Aura led him to what seemed to be the treeline. Outside the treeline was a massive plains field. Ainz took notice of the luscious wheat fields, as well as the numerous human farmers tending to them. He spotted a few armed guards as well, but none of them looked too keen to be _guarding_. He looked farther, and worked to contain his surprise. A massive city, larger than E-Rantel by far, was placed almost neatly into the center of the fields. High walls, large guard towers, and what looked like four fearsome reinforced gates all surrounded the large city.

Ainz looked at Aura, who was staring at Ainz with anticipation.

“Have you managed to gain any intel on that city?” he asked Aura.

Aura shook her head. “I hesitated to send any monster until I had your orders, Lord Ainz.” 

Ainz would have smiled if he could. Nonetheless, he patted Aura on the head again. He turned to gaze at the city again.

Ainz cast **[Distant Vision]** and **[Detect Magic]** , and focused on the new city. 

It took all of Ainz’s willpower not to reel back in shock at what he saw. There was an _intense_ magical aura surrounding the city.

Ainz dispelled the vision, troubled. With a wave of his hand, he summoned ten [Kashin Koji] to his location. At once, ten figures cloaked in shadows appeared before him. 

“I need to to learn as much as possible about that town, as well as the surrounding territories,” Ainz told the monsters.

“It will be done, my lord,” said the [Kashin Koji] in unison. All at once, they disappeared. Ainz turned to Aura.

“I want you to search the forest for powerful creatures,” said Ainz. “If you find one, notify me of what it is and it’s location.”

Aura nodded dutifully. With that, the two walked back to Nazerick. Once in proximity, Ainz used his Ring and teleported himself into his office. He had work he needed to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ainz has now found himself Axel! I know this chapter is kind of short, but I had a lot of stuff happen these past few days. Anyway, this should not impede future chapters! Next chapter is Konosuba again, with a slight time skip. Nonetheless, it should be a fun chapter to read.


	5. Struggles of a NEET

**Four Days Later**

The Demon King frowned thoughtfully. Although many had seen him frown in such a thoughtful way, there was an undertone of annoyance radiating from it. _Something_ was in the forest around Axel. 

After he felt the ties of his summoned demon disappear, he worked tirelessly to try and resummon it again. The odds of summoning the exact same demon more than once was astronomical, and it was made even the more infuriating by the jeers he would get from the demons he returned. Nonetheless, on the second day, the same purple, knife-fingered demon as before appeared before him, albeit with a large swollen lump on his throat. However, the information the Demon King received was beyond invaluable.

The lesser demon was killed by a _beastman_ of all things, but it constantly remarked with an odd pinch of fear how powerful the being was, going so far as to say it surpassed even the Demon King. 

However, he was even more surprised to hear that the beastman was in service to a Lich, and although the demon couldn’t see it’s power, the posture and composure of the Lich seemed to say enough of its power. That, and that fact it seemed to have complete control over the beastman.

Afterwards, the Demon King dismissed the being. He had relayed a message to Verdia saying to look for anything strange in the woods the previous day, and now he was tempted to send another. If a Lich as powerful as Wiz was taking refuge in the woods…

The Demon King shivered at the thought. 

It was rare for someone to use anti-detection magic to cloak their magical power. While not unheard of, most saw it as a sign of might to brazenly broadcast your magical prowess to the world. All one had to do was be with the Crimson Demons for a day for proof of that. The Demon King found it intriguing, but not odd, for a Lich of Wiz’s calibur to use anti-detection magic to hide from prying eyes such as himself. 

Refocusing his thoughts, he turned to a letter delivered to him that morning. The Demon King’s mood slightly increased when he saw it was a letter from Verdia, but deflated again when it asked him to grant Verdia _even more_ materials to rebuild his castle. The Demon King sighed. Some idiotic mage repeatedly blew up that castle day after day, week after week, and while Verdia was under specific instructions _not_ to attack Axel, he knew it was only a matter of time before Verdia snapped. Nonetheless, the Demon King signed the order to allow for more materials and manpower to fix the castle. The Demon King sighed. In truth, he wanted to send forces to open contact, if not apprehend, that Lich. What enerved him, however, was that he hadn’t gotten anything back yet. Usually, he’d receive either a confirmation message about an agreed meeting, or maybe a refusal message. At this point, he was even tempted to accept the familiar feeling of having his summons killed if it meant information. What he didn’t like was this…

_Silence._

It was frightening. He had sent countless psychic messages to his demons, requesting at least a status report. However, he received no response back. He hadn’t even received any feelings of their deaths. Every demon that was sent to those woods never returned. It was starting to irk him. Just what in the hell could keep demon summons away from their summoner like that?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kazuma looked reproachfully at the goddess sitting beside him. Her eyes were half closed and glassed over, her breath reeked of alcohol. However, she held the bottle of vintage wine in her arms like a vice grip. 

It had taken Aqua two drinks before she completely forgot her fear over this “Cleaving.” However, this didn’t stop her from being useless. Instead, she became constantly inebriated throughout the day. Kazuma could hardly believe how it was possible for _anyone_ , much less a goddess, could keep themselves in a constant state of drunkenness for _four straight days_. 

“I guess Aqua just became the goddess of alcohol,” muttered Kazuma under his breath. 

Megumin sat across from him, her gaze staring morosely at the meager portions of food she was given. Due to Aqua’s alcoholism, the party’s coin pouch grew lighter and lighter by the day. Compounded with the fact that something was still chasing the monsters out of the woods, and Kazuma wasn’t the only one feeling a lack of income. He looked at the board, noting the scarce amount of job papers listed there. The few that were on there were way out of their league. Ever since Darkness left for some “weight training,” Kazuma’s party was in desperate need of a tank. Sadly, Kazuma’s reputation wasn’t exactly the best, so naturally, Kazuma had to make the best with what they had.

That hadn’t gone so well.

They had tried two quests while Darkness was away. The first was with giant toads. Unfortunately, the toads _of course_ had proven too tough for them, and combined with Aqua’s inebriation and Megumin’s incompetence, the entire situation had ended worse than before. If it weren’t for some quick thinking on Kazuma’s part, as well as some of his luck, they would have all been toad food. 

The second quest wasn’t much better. Their task was to help escort a trader’s caravan through the mountains. However, what Luna had neglected to tell them was that there was a _dragon_ nesting there. To be honest, Kazuma had felt they handled the situation as well as they could have. However, the trader had lost one of his wagons, and stiffed them of the deal. 

Now, here they sat. Two days ago, Kazuma finally worked up the mental fortitude to put in a request for another party member. He had watched as countless adventurers walked right past the sheet. A couple stopped here and there, but most moved on. Kazuma occasionally saw one point and laugh at the notice before striding away. One even went as far as to chuck the notice in the garbage, to which Kazuma fished it out and rehung it. Now, Kazuma silently fingered his almost-empty coin purse. Only about 90 Eris were left, and he was tempted to take out a loan. 

“Kazumaaaaa,” said Aqua dreamily. “Could I have another bottle?”

Kazuma looked at Aqua tiredly. He had tried to say no on multiple occasions, but drunk Aqua was a lot stronger than sober Aqua, and he had felt on multiple occasions his bones almost break. He looked pleadingly at Megumin, only for her to turn her head away innocently.

“No, Aqua,” said Kazuma tiredly. “We’re running low on money. I can’t get you another drink.”

Aqua’s face began to contort in a frown. Kazuma flinched involuntarily. Just before Aqua seemed to open her mouth to begin her tantrum, a loud snore projected itself from her mouth. Kazuma looked shocked as she fell backwards, fast asleep.

Kazuma turned back towards the table, silently praying for something, _anything_ to happen.

Just as he finished the thought, the door of the Adventurer’s Guild burst open. In stepped a large knight decked in pitch black armor, with a red cape behind him. 

“My name is Momon,” he said, his voice deep and smooth. “And I wish to become an adventurer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we get to the juicy part! The Demon King is mildly afraid of what is happening in the woods of Axel and Kazuma may be getting another party member! Next chapter is Overlord, and while a great majority of these chapters will focus on Ainz, there will be some breakaway moments for the Floor Guardians at Nazerick as well.


	6. The Ebony Warrior

The town’s name was Axel. It’s population wasn’t anything to scoff at, but it was known as the “Town of Beginners.” Aiinz had chuckled at that. Such an obvious gaming term being used on a real city made him reminisce of his times in YGGDRASIL. Those feelings were quenched by his emotion inhibitor. The [Kashin Koji] paused in their explanation, before continuing.

“It contains an Adventurer’s Guild of a similar structure to the one in E-Rantel,” it stated. 

This piqued Ainz’s interest. An Adventurer’s Guild would be a useful location to gather information on this world. 

“However, this town is also frequented by beings known as ‘Hero Candidates.’” the [Kashin Koji] said. “They are said to be beings reincarnated from another world.”

This _really_ piqued Ainz’s interest. 

_Could there really be people from another world? Perhaps from…_

Ainz cast that thought aside. The odds of this “other world” being his home country of Japan was astronomical. Despite this, he mentally filed away this information for later.

“Thank you,” said Ainz. “You are dismissed.”

The [Kashin Koji] bowed, then disappeared in a cloud of black mist.

Ainz then turned to Demiurge. He had initially summoned Demiurge to hear about the research with the imps that appeared around Nazerick. Keeping in mind his experience with the first one, he made sure to keep them alive. However, Ainz was eager to hear what information was gleaned from Demiurge’s experiments.

Demiurge bowed, then spoke.

“We have determined that the creatures are indeed reminiscent of the common imp, however with slight variations.”

Demiurge pushed his glasses up his nose.

“Aside from a wider variety of skin pigmentation, as well as various armaments adorning their bodies, they seem to be slightly smarter than the normal counterparts.”

“Do you have any idea what they are called?” asked Ainz inquisitively.

Demiurge bowed. “Any name that a Supreme Being decides to bequeath them with should be more than adequate, my lord,” spouted Demiurge with religious zeal.

Ainz waved him off. “I’d prefer to know what they call themselves, so as to identify them later.”

Demiurge rose from his bowed position and nodded his head. “Very well, my lord,” he said. “They call themselves ‘Lesser Demons,’ although their strength is far inferior to a true demon.”

Ainz nodded. “Keep up the good work, Demiurge,” said Ainz approvingly.

Demiurge bowed. “I live only to serve,” he said loyally.

As Demiurge departed, Ainz turned to Albedo, who stood beside him. “I want you to notify all the floor guardians to meet me in the Throne Room at once,” said Ainz. Albedo nodded. 

With that, Ainz rose from his seat and made his way towards the Central Hall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Raise your heads,” said Ainz. All the floor guardians rose from their positions. 

“It has been brought to my attention that we are indeed in another world,” announced Ainz.

He took a moment for the collective shock of the Floor Guardians and Pleiades to sweep through the room.

“A large city, similar in size to E-Rantel, lies to the East of here,” continued Ainz. “It’s name is Axel, and it is civilized enough to have an Adventurer’s Guild.”

Ainz noticed Narberal Gamma preparing to stand. She was not the only one to predict his next comment. All the Floor Guardians and Pleiades looked upon him with apprehension. 

“Naturally, I plan on becoming an adventurer under my guise,” declared Ainz. Narberal Gamma stood, preparing for the order to move out.

“Narberal Gamma,” declared Ainz. “I’m afraid I will not allow you to accompany me this time.”

Narberal froze in shock. As did the other Floor Guardians. 

“I have detected a strong amount of magical energy permeating through the city,” continued Ainz. “Strong enough, that if it were to belong to an individual, it could easily overpower any member of the Pleiades.”

A second rippled of shock echoed through the chamber. Ainz could hear quiet mutterings being passed between the members of Nazerick. 

“Cease this racket! I demand silence!” shouted Ainz. The muttering died down.

 _Sweet! That worked!_ Thought Ainz, before continuing.

“However, I realize that going into uncharted territory _alone_ would cause great distress on all of you,” said Ainz. “Not to mention be a horrendously _stupid_ idea.”

He had intended for it to be a joke, but no one was laughing.

“As such, I shall instead be escorted by one Floor Guardian of specific criteria.”

Ainz paused for a moment, before focusing his gaze on the floor guardian to his far left.

“Shalltear Bloodfallen.”

To say the entire ensemble exploded in shock (and in Albedo’s case, Jealousy) would be an understatement. It was the first and only time Ainz had lost control over the Floor Guardians. Every Floor Guardian had misgivings. 

“She betrayed Nazerick!”

“That perverted devil doesn’t deserve you!”

“I must ask what your meaning for this is!”

“She. Does. Not. Deserve. The. Honor.”

“Silence!” cried Ainz to no avail as complaint after complaint was levied at him. 

Ainz felt his anger begin to brim. He turned his **[Despair Aura V]** to maximum.

“ **_SILENCE!!!_ ** ” shouted Ainz, his voice reverberating throughout the halls. The sheer force and volume, combined with his **[Despair Aura V]** , silenced the personnel of Nazerick. 

Ainz felt his anger dampened by his emotional inhibitor. He quelled his **[Despair Aura V]**.

“It is my final decision,” shouted Ainz. The Guardians nodded, their heads bowed in servitude. 

Ainz turned to Shalltear. Her face was pale from shock at the events that had just transpired. 

“You are to prepare immediately,” he said to her. “Do not wear your usual attire, but a disguise.”

Shalltear nodded mutely.

Ainz turned to the rest of the Guardians. “As for the rest of you, the defense of Nazerick is of utmost priority. Do not fail me.”

“ _Lord_ ,” they cried in unison. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ainz stood outside the gate of Nazerick, wearing his Dark Steel Armor. The two greatswords were hanging from his back, and the four stilettos he had taken from Clementine were attacked by a sheath located on his waist. It was about midday, and he had been notified that Shalltear was ready. Suddenly, he heard the faint clicking of high heels on stone. He turned to see Shalltear arrive through the previously closed doors of Nazerick. She was dressed in an all white dress, with the lower part significantly less bulbous than her usual attire. The upper part was a naturally closed dress to allow for her breast pads to be hidden. Her hair, formerly a light pink, was now a rich blond, and it hung down from her shoulders elegantly, with one long lock covering where her right eye would be. Her face was completely hidden behind an ornate white mask, with gold-trimmed carvings and red, catlike eyes where her eyes would be. Her hands were in pure white gloves, but Ainz noticed tiny slits where her fingernails could extend to meet any incoming blade. 

“Is this adequate, my lord?” she asked timidly.

Ainz nodded, impressed. “We will be taking a gate to the edge of the forest,” said Ainz informatively. “From there, we will be walking towards the town.”

Shalltear squirmed a bit.

Ainz noticed the movement. “I will be telling you the same thing I told Narberal,” he said. “You must treat humans with the utmost of respect. Do not attack or provoke them unless they did so to you first. Even then, restrain yourself. If you genuinely feel your life is threatened, do not hold back, but until then, do not let yourself be overcome by hatred and pride.”

Shalltear nodded dutifully. With that, Ainz extended his hand outwards.

“ **[Gate]** ,” he said, activating the spell. Suddenly, a huge red and black portal appeared in front of them. Ainz gestured for Shalltear to walk through. She obliged, for which he followed. They exited at the edge of the forest. Multiple farmers could be seen working the fields, with the lazy guards still doing anything but guarding. Ainz walked forward, followed by a dutiful Shalltear. Needless to say, they were quite a site. The guards seemed to have woken up at the site of the ebony black warrior followed by a pure white maiden. They reached the entrance of Axel in no time, and Ainz stopped to observe his surroundings. While this city certainly took up much more space than E-Rantel, it lacked much of the decorum. The roads were significantly larger than E-Rantel’s, with the roads able to fit the equivalent of a _dragon_ on its surface. Ainz was having trouble wrapping his head around requiring a road to be that wide. As for the buildings, most were pretty nondescript. The occasional storefront advertising clothing or food was spotted, but other than that the buildings seemed drab and boring. Ainz turned to a nearby salesman.

“Excuse me?” Ainz asked the man.

The man looked up, and jumped back in shock at the sight of the armored warrior.

“Could you direct us towards the Adventurer’s Guild?” Ainz continued, ignoring the man’s reaction.

The man nodded timidly, then pointed towards the end of the road.

Ainz nodded. “Thank you.”

Ainz proceeded to follow the oddly wide road, followed by Shalltear, who was hissing at any person who got within five feet of her. Finally, Ainz came to a large building, Unlike every other building in the city, it sat only in the middle of what seemed to be this world’s equivalent of a round-a-bound. 

Ainz turned to Shalltear. “I want you to remain silent for the time being, Shalltear,” he said.

Shalltear nodded diligently. With that, Ainz walked through the door.

“My name is Momon,” he said as he stepped into the building. “And I wish to become an adventurer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we are getting somewhere! I know that using Shalltear seemed like an odd choice, but I honestly thought that everything in Axel could overpower Narberal, and Shalltear was the only Floor Guardian that could somewhat pass for a human. That, as well as some moments planned for the future ;). Anyway, next chapter is still going to be Overlord. I'm still laying the groundwork a bit for future moments and such, so bear with me.


	7. Struggles of an Overlord

The first thing Ainz noticed was how empty the place was. Unlike E-Rantel’s Adventurer’s Guild, which was always full of Adventurers of adventurers either working on current quests or ready to accept new ones, Ainz could count only about three groups huddled together. Ainz mentally sighed. 

_Perhaps I should have done more research. If this turns out to be a bust…_

Ainz didn’t want to think about that possibility. He turned as Shalltear entered the building beside him. He could tell that she didn’t enjoy the present company, as per her subtle glares towards every denizen of the building. 

Ainz shook his head. He’ll need to be careful when it comes to Shalltear. He strode forward towards what appeared to be a receptionist till. The lady standing behind it was striking for human standards.

Her bust was generous, with her outfit open at the top to reveal her assets. He had no doubt that most men would have dipped their eyes downward at the sight. He could hear Shalltear grumbling behind him at the obvious manner of her dress. Her eyes were a unique gold that matched her hair, which was tied back into a bun with a few long locks hanging from her shoulders. Her face had a professional-looking smile on it, one Ainz recognized from his office-working days. She was most likely overworked, as the smile didn’t reach her eyes. A slight pang of pity etched itself in his heart before his emotional suppression erased it.

Ainz stood over the desk. “My name is Momon,” he declared, then gestured to Shalltear. “And this is my companion, Shalltear.” He focused his gaze back on her. “We wish to become adventurers.”

“Excellent, that’ll be…” started the woman, before Ainz held up a hand. 

“Before we begin, I was going to wonder why there are so few adventurers in this location?” Ainz gestured towards the near-empty building. “It’s practically empty.”

He noticed the slight crease at the edges of her smile, but the smile didn’t waver. 

“There’s been a slight… decrease in quests lately,” she said with a professionally hesitant tone.

“Is there a reason as to why?”

Despite the fact that the woman was evidently uncomfortable answering, she maintained her professional tone, although her smile washed away.

“We believe something has taken residence in the forest that has chased off all the monsters,” she said. “Without them, we’ve had less of the easier quests that most adventurer’s handle.”

Ainz took all his willpower not to lose his composure. He was impressed that Shalltear had managed to maintain hers as well. 

Meanwhile, Ainz was mentally cursing himself. _Of course, if monsters existed in the forest, they would be frightened by Nazerick! The same thing happened in Carne Village, although they saw it as a benefit more than a drawback._

Ainz continued. “I see. Well then, I guess we came at a bad time.”

“We still have quests!” cried Luna hurriedly. “We just don’t have the easier ones.”

Ainz gave her a critical glare under his helmet. _So, she’s in need of adventurers. That explains why she didn’t want us to know about the lack of quests._

“Very well,” said Ainz, waving off her concerns. “I guess it doesn’t hurt to sign up now, anyway.”

Ainz pretended not to see relief flash in her eyes as her professional smile reappeared on her face.

“Excellent,” she said happily. “That will be 300 Eris.”

Ainz looked at her blankly. Three hundred… Eris?

_What the heck is Eris?_

Ainz stood there for a moment.

“I’m… afraid I’m not from around here,” said Ainz hesitantly. “I am unfamiliar with the local currency.”

The woman nodded, accepting the answer. She in turn pulled out a small pouch of what appeared to be coins.

“Eris is commonly separated into three specific categories,” she explained. She pulled out a square copper coin with a hole in the middle. “A copper Eris, which is worth 1 Eris.” 

She pulled out a silver coin designed similarly. “A silver Eris, which is worth 100 Eris.”

She pulled out a gold coin, designed in the same way as the other two. “And a gold Eris, which is worth 1000 Eris.”

Ainz nodded thoughtfully.

“I see,” he said. “That is not far off from my… own currency.”

He pulled at the pouch located at his belt, and extracted three coins from the Re-Estize Kingdom. He placed them neatly on the desk in front of the woman and spread them out.

“Will these suffice as a replacement?” he asked.

Luna placed the Eris coins back in her pouch, then held out her hand. “Appraisal,” she said dramatically. Ainz mentally blanched as a green light emanated from her hand onto the coins. For a moment, she looked pensive, before she looked shockingly at the coins. 

“These… These aren’t _pure_ metals, are they?” she asked incredulously.

Ainz cocked his head to the side questioningly and nodded.

“Is that a problem?” he asked tentatively.

The woman shook her head. “To have coins like that! You must have come from a very rich country!”

She paused under Ainz’s questioning gaze before explaining.

“Eris are not pure in material,” she stated. “Certain elements were needed to fund the war with the Demon King, so cheaper materials were mixed in with the Eris currency, like Tin or Aluminum, so that they could be cheaper to make.”

She stared at the coins with a mixture of fear and greed.

“We haven’t had a pure coin in almost 200 years. Not since…” she broke off, before shaking her head. 

She pointed at the copper coin. “That coin would be more than sufficient to pay for both of you,” she stated.

Ainz nodded, taking his silver and gold coin back. Meanwhile, the woman brought up a mysterious device, as well as two cards. The device looked odd. I looked like a giant blue ball surrounded in three gold rings, held up by an ornate-looking wooden stand. The stand was intricately carved, with multiple vein-like etchings inscribed into it. There were also some gears located where the metal circles met the stand, and Ainz guessed that they allowed for some sort of movement to happen within the device. At the base of the device sat a large golden needle with the tip hollowed out. It looked to be a focus for something that Ainz couldn’t begin to guess.

“Allow me to explain how all this works,” said the woman.

“Adventurer is a generic class, and your skills are important.”

Ainz mentally blanched at the word “class.”

“Which brings us to your registration card,” she continued, pointing at the two card she held in her hand. “It keeps track of your level based on all the monsters you killed.”

Ainz grew thoughtful. _This is remarkably similar to YGGDRASIL, but in a real life setting._

The woman continued. “When your level increases, you’ll earn points you can trade in to learn new skills!”

She folded her hands and widened her smile.

“Work hard and you’ll raise your level in no time!” she cried enthusiastically.

Ainz and Shalltear nodded.

The woman then gestured to the device.

“On to the next step!” she continued, sliding one of the cards under the stand of the device so that it was squarely centered under the needle. “Would you please hold your hand over the crystal, sir?”

Ainz did so, his gauntleted hand almost dwarfing the crystal.

Suddenly, the crystal started to glow softly blue. After a moment, however, the crystal flashed red.

The woman furrowed her brow. “That’s odd,” she stated.

As Ainz continued to hold his hand over the orb, it continually flashed red before focusing a beam of pure light onto the card the woman had placed. As the beam touched the card, the card incinerated into black fire.

The woman jumped.

Ainz moved his hand away from the top of the crystal, and the beam stopped. Unfortunately, the card turned to ash the moment the flame died down.

The woman looked both worried and curious. 

“I’m sorry, sir, but do you happen to have anything that could be hiding or scrambling any magical aura on you?” the woman asked professionally.

Ainz nodded, his gaze questioning.

“My apologies, but would you mind removing it?” asked the woman. “It’s so rare for individuals to possess an item that has that effect, but it is required for your energies to be unimpeded.”

Waving off the multiple questions he wanted to ask, he quickly cast an illusion on his hand and removed his gauntlet. Meticulously, he removed the ring hiding his magic stats and aura. Once the ring was off, he thought he heard a small “Eep” of fright, followed by a clatter of chairs, but dismissed it. 

He put his gauntlet back on and held his hand over the orb. This time, the blue light was uninterrupted. The woman slipped the other card back under the need just as a beam of pure light shot from it, carving letters and numbers into the card. Once the beam was finished, she collected it.

“Alright, let’s see your stats,” she stated happily. “Momonga, correct?”

Ainz visibly blanched this time, as did Shalltear. She had read his _actual_ name. Not Ainz, not Momon, but his YGGDRASIL username?

Suddenly, the woman’s face froze. Her smile looked more plastered than usual, and her face paled rapidly as her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Then turkey platters. Until Ainz believed they would pop out of their sockets onto the floor. Slowly, her smile faltered. Once it did, her jaw slowly fell farther and farther.

Ainz and Shalltear stood there expectantly, but the woman’s eyes never wavered from the card.

“Um,” said Ainz, unsure of how to react. Suddenly, she flicked her gaze towards Ainz, her eyes broadcasting unhindered fear.

“L-l-l-let me get my m-m-m-manager,” she stuttered out before moving behind her desk towards an office door. 

Shalltear huffed. “She could at least be a bit more civil about it,” she said hauntingly.

Ainz looked at her questioningly. “What do you mean?” he asked.

Shalltear seemed to smile smugly behind her mask. “She’s obviously surprised by your amazing power, my lord.”

Before Ainz could respond, the office door opened, and the woman exited followed by a very important-looking man. His face seemed to mirror the pale-faced, wide-eyed look of Luna. He stepped in front of the counter.

“May I ask what country you came from?” asked the manager. 

Ainz hardened his gaze. “May I ask why I need to provide that information?” he asked, a hint of malice laced in his voice.

_What the hell do I tell them!?! I can’t name a made up nation! Would YGGDRASIL be considered a nation? Or maybe E-Rantel?_

However, an explanation wasn’t necessary. The malice seeded in the statement seemed to terrify them more effectively than he expected.

“N-n-n-nevermind,” said the manager.

“If I may have my card,” said Ainz calmly.

The woman handed him his Adventurer’s card, her hands shaking. He took it and, curious, looked at the card.

Oh.

That would explain a lot. 

Both his Magic Power and Intelligence read infinity, and Ainz guessed that wasn’t normal. As for the rest…

Not one stat had less than three digits. Not to mention the card also read his level as 100. Giving a quick glance at the other contents revealed that the face the card had for a portrait was a rather sinister skull. The class section of his card also happened to read “Eclipse.” 

_Interesting. So certain YGGDRASIL classes are compatible with these cards._

Ainz re-equipped his ring and slid his adventurer card into one of his pouches located on his armor.

“I wish for my companion to also acquire a card.

The woman nodded mutely. Shalltear had her stats recorded without much fanfare, although hers naturally caused the woman to blanch. 

With that, Ainz had one more question. 

“You mentioned that the easy quests were mostly gone,” he stated.

The woman didn’t respond, anticipating his next question.

“Do you happen to know if there are any harder ones?” he asked.

The woman pointed to the board, saying “The more recent difficult ones are posted on the board. As for the older ones…” The woman proceeded to pull a large book out from under the desk. It had a very noticeable layer of dust, as well as multiple worn papers sticking out at the end.

“These are the backlog of quests that haven’t been completed,” she stated tiredly. “If it’s been on the board for over three months with no takers, it goes in here.”

Ainz nodded and reached for the book.

The woman hesitated, before relinquishing it. “Usual protocol would say that I’d have to log the quest as completed, but with your stats…” 

Ainz nodded in understanding, and proceeded towards the door followed by Shalltear, who was busy looking at her card.

Just as they almost reached the door, they heard a very soft “excuse me” come from behind them. They turned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go! Ainz is now a fully-fledged Adventurer! And now he's earned the respect (and fear) of the administrative staff of the Adventurer's Guild! Next Chapter is Konosuba, and now we get to see how Kazuma and Co deal with the Ebony Adventurer known as Momon!


	8. An Undead, A Demon, and a NEET

Kazuma was tired. Tired of not having money. Tired of not having reliable teammates. And right now, he was tired of this useless goddess. Since that Momon guy had entered the Guild, she had been staring daggers at him and his royal-looking girlfriend.

“Aqua, cut it out,” said Kazuma disheartedly.

“I told you, Kazuma,” she stated, as if he was stupid. “I’m not letting an undead like _that_ out of my sight.”

Kazuma rolled his eyes. “Do you honestly think an Undead would spend his time trying to become an adventurer?” he asked incredulously.

When Aqua didn’t have an answer, he forced her gaze away from the heavily-armored titan (Seriously who gets that tall?). 

“I won’t have you causing me more trouble,” he said tiredly and forcefully.

Aqua started to tear up. “But it’s a filthy undead!” she cried, pointing at the iron giant, who was carefully working to remove his gauntlet. “Goddesses aren’t supposed to tolerate…”

Suddenly, Aqua flew off her chair, as if propelled by a great force. Kazuma looked shocked as she landed on the ground with a forceful thud. He turned to look down at her, only for him to realize her face was sheet white, with a look of pure fear edged in it.

“Aqua..?” he asked tentatively. She didn’t respond, instead proceeding to stare at the ceiling as she shook softly.

“Aqua, get up,” he said, his voice having an edge he didn’t mean to add to it. Without a word, she stood up and proceeded to sit back down, staring white-faced at the table. 

Soon, she started muttering under her breath.

 _Oh great_ , thought Kazuma. _Now’s she’s traumatized like when that stupid Cleaving thing happened_.

“Aqua, snap out of this,” cried Kazuma forcefully. “I don’t know what’s gotten you like this, but…”

“Of course you wouldn’t, mortal,” muttered Aqua sinisterly.

Kazuma blanched. _Mortal? Where the hell did that come from?_

“Uh, Aqua,” said Kazuma with less bravado. “You’re kind of starting to…”

“Of course you wouldn’t understand!” shouted Aqua angrily, her eyes filled with godlike fury as they bored into Kazuma. “Thousands of Gods died to those demons! A massacre!”

“A-a-aqua, calm down, okay?” asked Kazuma, fear cloaking his voice. He had never seen Aqua act this way, and it was terrifying.

“I will not calm down!” she cried. "You’re puny mortal mind couldn’t understand what us Gods had to go through! Countless died before those twisted Lords of…” 

Aqua then froze as she heard something that made her blood freeze. Kazuma heard it, too, and they shifted their gaze towards the entrance, where Megumin stood, overshadowed by the dark figure of Momon. 

“Excuse me?” she asked imperiously. 

Kazuma paled as he quickly scrambled out of his seat towards the Crimson Demon. 

“I would most definitely like to acquire some of those quests from…” Megumin got no further as Kazuma practically tackled her to the ground.

“Shut up!” he whispered angrily to her. “Do not demand _anything_ from them.”

Kazuma stood up suddenly, put on his best smile, and strode over towards the pair, walking with more confidence than he felt. 

“Good day, fellow adventurers!” he said with false enthusiasm. In truth, he was sweating bullets. Kazuma didn’t know what kind of power they had, but it obviously shook Aqua enough for her to call him “mortal.”

He could tell his remark didn’t impress them (at least, that’s what he thought. They were both wearing masks.), so he continued.

“I must apologize on behalf of my companion,” he said politely. “She tends to be a bit… impulsive.”

He silenced her irate “Hey!” with a glare. He looked up at the mountain of a knight, hoping he wouldn’t press for compensation.

“May I have your name,” asked Momon. His voice was surprisingly smooth and rich, and Kazuma immediately assumed he was a noble. _Shit._

“Kazuma Satou, m’lord,” he said politely, trying _very hard_ not to piss off the obviously wealthy knight in front of him.

“Ah, yes,” said the knight. “I noticed your request for additional companions in your adventuring party.”

Kazuma widened his eyes in shock. He had actually seen that?

Momon seemed to cock his head slightly to the left, as if in thought.

“My guess is that you are suffering from a severe monetary problem,” the ebony warrior stated.

Kazuma could only nod. He wasn’t seriously going to…

“How about, in return for your subordinate's rude display, you accompany me and my companion on a quest of our choosing?” he asked politely.

Kazuma blanched, then squinted his eyes suspiciously. 

“You will lay claim to half the reward,” stated the armored figure. “If you earn it.”

Kazuma’s hopes came crashing down. With a party like his? No way. Still, it was better than nothing, and both he and Megumin were itching for a quest.

“Alright then,” answered Kazuma with more confidence and faith than he felt.

“Excellent,” stated Momon. “In two days, meet us at the front gates of Axel. From there, we will begin our quest.”

With that, the two figures departed, leaving an extremely fatigued Kazuma to wonder what the heck he just got himself into.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nothing. Bloody nothing. Not one demon, not one devil. Hell, not even a fucking shade (which were not easy to summon) returned from that damnable forest! Verdia had been no help, since his castle was _still_ being bombarded by some wayward Explosion Mage, and he had no more expendable forces to get chewed up in whatever the hell was happening! It was a fucking bloody miracle that Verdia and his forces weren’t consumed by whatever was in that forest.

“Father, is something wrong?” asked the Demon King’s daughter.

The Demon King waved her off. “We’ve had nothing. Not one bloody demon came back from that forest! I’m at my wit’s end!” 

The Demon King’s daughter frowned in thought. “Well, what about something you know wouldn’t die?” she asked thoughtfully.

The Demon King looked at her. “What are you thinking?”

The daughter smiled. “Why not use Vanir? Surely he would be able to pierce whatever is trapping the demons.”

The Demon King thought for a second. “He’s trite, and fickle, and never gives a straight answer.”

The daughter nodded. 

The Demon King sighed. “But unfortunately, I don’t see a better option.”

The Demon King raised his hand. Purple smoke erupted from it, and from the purple smoke came Vanir, his masked face grinning from ear to ear.

“How can _moi_ be of service oh great Demon King?” he asked diligently.

“I need you to enter the forest surrounding Axel, and notify me of what is happening there, as well as why my summons have not answered nor returned to me,” relayed the Demon King.

Vanir froze at the request, his smile faltering, before finally falling all together.

“I’m afraid I can not do that,” said Vanir seriously, his tone lacking his normal theatrical flair.

To say the Demon King was surprised by his reaction would be an understatement. He was floored. Never had Vanir _refused_ a direct order from him before.

“Vanir,” said the Demon King. “Your contract hasn’t expired…”

“Your contract specifically states that I am to follow all directives I am given unless they directly interfere with Godly power,” stated Vanir matter-of-factly.

The Demon King paled.

“Are you saying a _God_ has descended into that forest?” he asked timidly.

“No. What lies in that forest surpasses most gods,” Vanir replied.

The Demon King looked puzzled. “Nothing surpasses the Gods in power,” he stated.

Vanir shook his head. “Only three beings have been known to surpass the power of the Gods,” he stated.

“One of them was the Demon King of Ruin.”

If the Demon King was pale before, his face now was ashen white. If something on par with _that_ entity was taking residence in the forest around Axel…

_Oh gods, no wonder my summons haven’t returned_

The Demon King started shivering, thinking of the implications of something _that_ powerful had entered the world again.

“Th-th-thank you, Vanir,” the Demon King stated timidly.

Vanir bowed before proceeding to dissipate into a cloud of purple fog, leaving the Demon King to wallow in his fear at what had entered that forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another bit of lore for ya! Not to mention Kazuma and Co will start seeing the action that is Ainz and Shalltear. Also, the Demon King now realizes what he's dealing with. Next chapter will be Overlord, so we will get to see Ainz's rational behind why he decided to accept the party into his fold (Hint Hint: It's not for some sort of compensation).


	9. How to kill your dragon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be going on a bit of a hiatus for personal reasons. A bit of stuff has come up recently, and I'll have to step away for a bit. So as to not leave you guys upset, I held off from yesterday's chapter to get you a longer and more action-packed chapter for today. Enjoy!

There were many things that the people of Axel expected from the newest adventurer.

Coming to the front gates with a literal mountain of trinkets from various monsters was not one of them. In truth, Ainz had tasked the Floor Guardians with searching for the various creatures mentioned in the questbook and to judge their strength. The results were not exactly on par with his expectations. 

The majority of the creatures, such as the horde of giants taking refuge in the cave towards the mountains, or the large group of pterodactyl looking creatures nesting in the woods, barely reach level 40. A few basilisks and the plant creatures known as “Tranquility Girls” did prove to go up a bit higher, but nonetheless they were proven quite easy to handle. Only two of the quests caught Ainz’s attention. The first was the dragon located towards the Krayt Mountains. While there was another dragon quest in the book that Ainz was itching to learn about, it had already been taken by another adventurer by the name of Kyouya Mitsurugi. As for the second…

It was tempting. It was _really_ tempting. Some sort of undead was taking residence in the nearby castle. The quest details a simple observation and study, a stark difference in comparison to the mountain of kill quests the book offered. Apparently, the undead was powerful enough to ward off the monsters, choke holding the quests that were offered. Ainz remembered his conversation with the receptionist. She had stated something similar, however she was noticeably more vague about it than the notice. Nonetheless, it was expected. If adventurers were finding their quests restricted by a mysterious undead, Ainz doubted that more would sign up. He did recall that she was rather hesitant to name what exactly had caused the monsters the flee.

Ainz froze, his thoughts putting together a horrid conclusion. He quickly reread over the notice. _Undead… castle… forest around Axel… deterring monsters…_

Oh no.

He turned to the homunculus maid by his side. “I want you to summon Lady Aura Bella Fiore,” he stated, trying to keep the panic from his voice. 

The maid nodded and retreated out of the room.

Ainz turned back to the paper. _If Nazerick has been discovered…_

True, The Great Tomb of Nazerick looked just like its name suggested: a tomb. However, Ainz could simply dismiss it as a hurried observation. 

Aura soon entered, her face jovial and excited. “What can I do for you, lord Ainz?” she asked excitedly.

“When you combed the forest for threats to Nazerick, did you happen to come across a castle?” he asked cautiously.

Aura thought for a moment. “One of my pets did come across a castle with a strong stench,” she stated. “Is that what you mean?”

Ainz nodded. Inwardly, he sighed. So, that castle was most likely the culprit. 

:Thank you, Aura,” said Ainz, dismissing her. 

“Is there something in that castle that threatens Nazerick?” asked Aura tentatively. 

Ainz thought for a moment. “For the time being, I do not believe so,” he stated matter of factly. “In truth, the nearby town is aware that an undead of some sort lives there, and it is deterring monsters.”

“Would you like me to crush it for you, lord Ainz?” asked Aura gleefully.

Ainz shook his head. “For the time being, we shall leave it.” he answered. “However, if it becomes a threat to Nazerick, its destruction may be inevitable.”

Aura nodded, then retreated back through the doorway. 

Ainz turned his attention back to the Krayt dragon, deep in thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two days later, just as dawn was approaching, Shalltear and Ainz stood inside the entrance of Axel, waiting. The massive amounts of high-tier rewards Ainz had delivered had given him a net-worth of 50 million Eris, plus additional compensation at the quest-giver’s discretion. Nonetheless, there they stood, with Shalltear tapping her foot impatiently. 

“Honestly, lord,” she stated, annoyance coating her tone. “Why do we even have to wait for maggots like them?”

Ainz sighed. “Shalltear, I have already explained to you my thoughts. It is rude to continue questioning.”

Shalltear stopped, and Ainz could see a slight blush from under her mask. Ainz had told her about the unusual aura that had cloaked the trio of them. It intrigued him that such power could come from a human. The humans in the New World never came close to power on their levels, and so far, excluding those three, he had yet to see a human accomplish it either.

The young Arch-mage’s power was odd. Unlike a magical aura, which radiated off of an individual in proportion to the power of the caster, the girl’s (Ainz felt like her name was on the tip of his tongue. Megan? Mcguffin? Malcolm?) power flowed through her like veins, pumping its power directly through her body. He hadn’t yet seen any spellcaster in this world like that, and it was most intriguing. 

The boy’s power, while not odd, so to speak, was startling in its amount. His power level was massive, almost on par with a Pleiades, and it had startled Ainz when, upon looking at his stats, only his luck surpassed the triple digit mark. Even then, the boy seemed to have massive potential, and it scared him to imagine if that power went up against Nazerick. 

The Archpriest, in stark contrast to her compatriots, had some very odd traits to her power. While nothing compared to the boy, her magical Aura was… freakish. It defied everything he knew about them. 

The aura, for starters, was _gold_. Most magical auras always concentrate around a spectrum of colors, rapidly changing, but usually stick with colder colors like blue or purple. He had yet to see an aura that not only was devoid of that change, but maintained a color throughout. However, the aura's most fascinating trait wasn’t the color, but the scale. Most aura’s grow over a period of study and practice as the caster learns more about magic. However, this girl’s aura wasn’t only changing…

It was changing _rapidly_.

Every second, her aura seemed to grow and shrink, fluctuating between pitiful and monstrous levels. He had yet to find the source of the fluctuation, but continued study might prove beneficial to increasing the power of Nazerick.

Shalltear had accepted that answer, almost swooning at the compassion and (supposed) foresight of the Supreme Being. However, Ainz hadn’t told her about another underlying reason.

The boy’s name. Was _Japanese_. It had shocked him to hear a name from his own world, and his curiosity became piqued. He needed to know if it was true. His face and general visage was similar to the japanese people he knew from his world, but he wanted to study this further. Now, as he dwelled on his thoughts, Kazuma Satou, leader of the ragtag adventurer party, followed by the three members of his party.

Ainz would have blinked if he could.

_Three?_

Indeed, the Archpriest, Archmage, and Thief were all followed by what seemed to be a rather noble-looking warrior, garbed in pure white armor, a stark contrast to Ainz’s pitch black suit. This did not go unnoticed, as the woman seemed to appraise Ainz’s set with approval.

Kazuma was the first to speak. “Sorry we’re late,” he said, out of breath. 

Shalltear grumbled irritably, but was silenced with a glance from Ainz.

“I do believe introductions should be arranged,” said Ainz diplomatically.

Kazuma nodded.

“Alright, we have Megumin, our resident Archmage, Darkness, the ‘noble’ crusader, and Aqua, the useless Archpriest.”

Ainz nodded, choosing to forget the “useless” descriptor of the blue-haired Archpriest. He gestured towards himself.

“My name is Momonga, or Momon, for short.” He gestured towards Shalltear. “And this is my companion, Shalltear Bloodfallen.”

Shalltear merely turned in their general direction, neither acknowledging nor greeting them. 

Kazuma rubbed his hands together eagerly. “Alright, what quest are we doing?” he asked, anticipation leaking from his tone. 

Ainz could see the edges of a scowl on Shalltear’s lips at the obvious greed the boy was showing. 

“We are going to be killing the dragon located in the Krayt mountains,” stated Ainz.

Kazuma paled. So did the others’ faces.

“Uh, my party ain’t all it cracked up to be,” he said tenaciously. “Don’t you think we should do something easier?”

Ainz looked at him appraisingly. It was true. Save for the Crusader, it appeared all their gear was rather low levelled. 

“Nonsense,” stated Ainz dismissively. “I believe this would be a perfect chance to appraise your abilities and effectiveness.”

Kazuma only nodded mutely, no doubt regretting the situation immensely. 

“Now then,” said Ainz. “We should begin making the trek towards the mountains.”

As they exited the town and proceeded towards the mountain peaks in the distance. Ainz let the four party members take the lead as he watched them with an appraising eye. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They had been walking for a greater portion of an hour before Aqua had started whining incessantly, demanding to go back. 

While Ainz had the patience and peace of mind not to lash out, Shalltear was (rather noticeably) lacking that mental state. Every whiny comment out of that Archpriest’s mouth seemed to fray Shalltear’s patience even further, to the point that Ainz was surprised she hadn’t flung herself onto the blue-haired girl in an anger-induced frenzy. 

Finally, even Ainz’s patience had run its course.

“Aqua,” said Ainz politely. “I would recommend you quiet down a bit.”

Aqua turned to him, her eyes blaring with impatience and fatigue-inducing anger.

“As if I would listen to some filthy undead like you,” said Aqua spitfully.

That was the final straw. With a lung, Shalltear flew, arms outstretched, towards the now-frightened Archpriest. Suddenly, a metal hand grabbed her by the collar, stopping her trick.

“Shalltear,” said Ainz sternly. “Compose yourself.”

Shalltear nodded hesitantly, and Ainz let her go. She landed on the ground gracefully and proceeded to retreat back to the Overlord’s side, although her fury was still rather evident.

“Like I said,” Ainz continued brusquely. “I recommend you quiet down.”

Aqua opened her mouth, about to retort, when a slight thumping could be heard in the distance. The four members of Kazuma’s party froze.

Ainz turned to the source of the thumping to find five giant toads hopping towards their location.

Ainz tilted his head and glanced at their magical signatures. To his great shock, despite the size and appearance of the creatures, they barely reached level 10.

Ainz almost blanched at how disgustingly underpowered they were.

He turned to Kazuma’s party, only to see…

_Fear?_

“Aren’t you going to handle those?” Ainz asked, both with confusion and disgust in his voice.

Kazuma looked at him, shocked. “Are you serious?” he asked incredulously. “Those things are way too powerful for us!”

Ainz stared at him, dumbfounded. Then he put his helmeted head in his right hand. 

“Shalltear,” he called. 

She stood beside him, awaiting a command. 

“My apologies for asking this of you, but would you mind handling those monsters?”

Shalltear looked in the general direction of the toads. “Where?” she asked, confused.

Kazuma’s party looked at her in bewilderment.

Ainz shook his head. “I know it’s hard to believe, but the frogs seem to be a problem, and frankly, I’d prefer not to soil my armor just yet.”

Shalltear bowed. “Of course, my lord. I’ll handle them.”

In the blink of an eye, Shalltear sped towards the frogs, her speed surprising everyone but Ainz. One of the frogs seemed to see this, and proceeded to shoot its tongue out to try and catch the speedy prey. Shalltear easily dodged it, and proceeded to fold around it. Suddenly, she leaped up towards where the frog’s head was and swiped with her hand. The frog had a split second of confusion could its thoughts before its head was cleaved from its body. The frog’s body hadn’t even tumbled to the ground before Shalltear moved on to the next one, using her fingernails to cleave the head of each of the toads. Soon, Shalltear landed gracefully on the ground as the five rapidly-cooling toad corpses laid scatter behind her. 

She walked back towards Ainz, barely even tired. Ainz nodded in approval, then turned towards the members of Kazuma’s party.

Only to see them staring at Shalltear in shock. They had just witnessed a chick in a _dress_ cut off the heads of five giant toads with nothing but her _hands_.

“Shall we continued?” asked Ainz nonchalantly. Everyone in the party nodded mutely. There were no more complaints for the rest of the trip.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The dragon’s cave was rather small, and while that was surprising, Ainz was more surprised by the dragon itself. 

To put it frankly, in YGGDRASIL it would be closer to a drake than a dragon. It’s level barely scraped past 40, and it’s magical signature was surprisingly weak. Ainz doubted it could even breathe fire. Nonetheless, it was supposedly killing off the wildlife in the area, and needed to be slain. Ainz, Shalltear, and Kazuma’s party were all by the treeline to the clearing in front of the cave. Unlike the surrounding fauna, the clearing was covered in sand along with various bits of dented and battered pieces of armor. No doubt they weren’t the first adventurers to set foot there.

Ainz turned to see the eyes of Kazuma’s entire party on him. 

“Alright,” said Ainz. “Let’s see what you got.”

Kazuma looked at him, confusion spreading across his face.

“Did you think _I_ was going to intervene?” said Ainz. “This is a test of _your_ strength.”

Kazuma’s face changed to a look of shock, then of utter horror as the words of the undead sunk in.

“W-w-wait,” said Kazuma. “You want _us_ to handle that thing?”

Ainz nodded, and pretended not to hear the indignant scowl of Shalltear behind him.

Kazuma was shaking his head furiously. “There’s no way we can take on a _dragon_. We could barely take on those giant toads! If you think…”

“If you don’t kill it, you forfeit your share,” said Ainz simply.

Kazuma closed his mouth with a snap. Silence reigned for a moment.

“I don’t care how you kill it, just do so,” said Ainz after a while. “All I will do is observe.”

Kazuma looked at him, and Ainz noticed a spark of anger in his eyes as he turned towards the party.

Satisfied, he turned towards Shalltear. 

“No matter what they or I do, do not intervene,” he whispered to her.

Shalltear looked as if she wanted to protest, but stopped at the look that Ainz gave her.

Ainz turned just as they seemed to finish preparations. Tossing him a dirty look, Kazuma led his party towards the treeline.

Ainz sat down, keeping his eye on the party.

Needless to say, it didn’t end well.

In truth, Ainz was impressed by their plan. Darkness was to lure the drake out of its cave with her “Taunt” skill, and once the drake was out, the Archmage would use her “Explosion Magic,” as she called it, to take it out. It was a solid plan, but the problem was, put simply…

The party was utter horse shit.

The moment the drake stepped out of the cave, Darkness swooned and collapsed in what he imagined was lust. Indeed, he could see her face as red as a beet, and scrunched in absolute pleasure. The explosion mage, unable to use her magic with the crusader in the way, could only watch helplessly as the drake edged closer and closer to her. However, it seemed that Kazuma had a backup plan. 

Having the Archpriest cast “Blessing” on him repeatedly, he dove in and managed to grab Darkness just as the drake raked the ground she was at with its claws. It roared in anger and proceeded to turn towards its fleeing prey. Given a clear path, Megumin proceeded to start chanting.

_Wait, chanting!?!_

The way she was muttering those words, mixed with the large fiery circles floating above…

_Super Tier Magic_

Ainz quickly cast **[Greater Protection Field]** around himself and Shalltear as the circles continued to cascade downward over the drake.

Suddenly, he heard Megumin shout “Explosion!!” 

All at once, a large fiery beam descended through the circles towards the drake. As it hit the drake, the beam exploded outward. The surrounding trees were decimated, the bark on them charred to a crisp. 

Ainz could barely see through the wave of fire, but he looked at the explosion feeling nothing but…

Dejection.

The explosion barely constituted for a 7th tier spell. The magic circles didn’t even seem needed, and the fact that the casting time was so terribly large made it practically useless in a real fight. Not to mention, as he saw a shape moving, a drake of all things was the worst thing she could have cast it on.

To the surprise of everyone but Ainz and Shalltear, the drake still stood, slightly singed, but otherwise unscathed. It roared angrily at the Archmage, who…

Was lying face down in the dirt. 

Ainz wanted to kick himself. It seemed that the Explosion spell drained her of her mana, as a quick check on her aura showed it completely gone. As for the other’s, their expressions were primarily of panicked horror and (in Darkness’ case) subdued pleasure.

However, it was at this point that Ainz had seen enough.

“ **[Acid Arrow]** ,” said Ainz, his hand outstretched towards the drake. A bolt of corrosive fluid flew from his hand towards the beast, crazing and dissolving its scales, but not piercing them. This wasn’t Ainz’s intent, however, for instead of attacking the party, it turned towards the armored black knight standing out in the open. It roared and charged. 

“ **[Hold of Ribs]** ,” said Ainz. This time, a large ribcage erupted from the ground, preventing it from moving forward. It started at Ainz, it’s eyes filled with primal anger as it struggled against its bonds. Ainz simply walked calmly over to the dragon, drawing its attention. Once he was close enough, the drake tried to bite at him, only for the overlord to grab the tip of its mouth with his gauntleted hand. It struggled against Ainz’s grip, but couldn’t free itself.

“ **[Death]** ” said Ainz with finality. A black wisp of smoke erupted from Ainz’s wrist and snake itself towards the drake. Once it made contact, it engulfed the drake. With a sudden shudder, it stopped moving. Ainz let go, and the ribcage disappeared beneath the sand as the drake collapsed onto the ground, dead.

Ainz turned to Kazuma's party, only to see a large mixture of expressions. 

Kazuma’s jaw was halfway on the ground, his eyes staring at him dumbfounded. Aqua was sheet-white, her entire body shaking with evident fright. Darkness was on the ground, holding herself in pure euphoria, and Megumin was on the ground, face down, and he could see a pleasurable smile on her face.

“Well then,” said Ainz, somehow both awkwardly and regally. “I think we have much to discuss.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go! I employed a bit of power scaling when it came to Konosuba skills and Overlord spells, but I think it turned out alright. Next chapter will be a Konosuba one, and it will most likely deal with the fallout of this little event.


	10. Shadows of the Past and Future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Sorry about the delay! Had to handle some work. Now then, On to the Chapter!

Despite that comment, not much was said during the return trip. Indeed, as Kazuma’s party, Momon, and the Shalltear chick all made their way down the mountain towards Axel (With Momon carrying an oversized dragon horn), Kazuma couldn’t help but notice the odd silence emanating from the (frankly) overpowered pair. 

Shalltear seemed to have an aura of contempt surrounding her, no doubt happy that her… Lover?... Companion?... Friend?... Partner had managed to one-shot a _dragon_. At least Momon seemed to be slightly embarrassed by his overpowered-ness, although he seemed to be more pensive than bashful with how he held his head downward in thought. Kazuma groaned. No doubt his party’s shameful performance will have them next to no cash from the job. It didn’t help that Kazuma’s party was a total wreck currently, either. Kazuma turned his head backwards towards the trio.

Megumin was, of course, piggybacking off of him, as her explosion magic sapped her of all her mana. However, she had the decency to look troubled instead of the usual euphoric expression that accompanied her post-explosion high. As for Aqua...

She was currently splayed across Darkness’ back, and Kazuma could see by Darkness’ blushing face that she didn’t mind all that much. Aqua, however, had been catatonic since Momon’s feat. Even now, her face was ashen white, her eyes blankly staring at nothing. She was completely unresponsive to everything around her, even when Kazuma slugged her in the shoulder a good way back (although she did groan irritably). Kazuma looked ahead, keeping his eyes on the power duo, before he finally broke the silence.

“So, why did you need our help again?” asked Kazuma bravely. Or at least, attempted to. His voice seemed to be nothing more than a squeak in his ears.

Nonetheless, Momon seemed to have heard him. “It was to appraise your abilities, more or less,” stated Momon matter-of-factly. Kazuma felt his heart lower at that. Great. Now he had successfully proven to the OP heroes that his party sucked harder than a baby with a lemon. 

As Axel entered their sight, Momon stopped. Kazuma stopped too, but Darkness seemed to be too absorbed in her masochist fantasy to realize that as she crashed into him. It was lucky he managed not to drop Megumin. 

Momon turned to see the disarray that was behind him, and politely cleared his throat. Kazuma and Darkness straightened their backs in an almost military-like fashion, being careful not to drop the companions they were carrying.

“I do believe compensation is in order,” said Momon professionally.

Kazuma paused, but said nothing. If Momon was willing to pay for the horrendous “help” his party did, he wasn’t going to _refuse_ it.

Momon carefully extracted a rather budging bag from his waist and presented it towards Kazuma.

“I do believe this should be suitable compensation for your assistance today,” said Momon.

Kazuma extracted one hand from his back and took the bag from Momon…

And almost dropped it. The thing weighed a lot more than Kazuma was expecting.

“How much is in here?” asked Kazuma incredulously.

“One million Eris, I believe,” responded Momon nonchalantly. 

Kazuma’s jaw dropped. _One million?_

Megumin started on his back, and Darkness almost seemed to drop Aqua. 

“B-b-but…” sputtered Kazuma. “We did basically nothing!”

This comment was met with dark glares from his party.

Momon shook his head amusingly, before saying. “You gave me information.”

Kazuma, Megumin, and Darkness each gave him puzzling gazes.

“To some, information is significantly more valuable than assistance,” explained Momon, a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. “I’m afraid my knowledge of this… land was frighteningly limited. I saw potential in you and your party, and wanted to see how far along you were.”

Kazuma seemed to glow at that. This godlike adventurer saw potential in _him_? Was he like some sort of NPC trainer, like in a video game?

“Despite your pitiful performance…” continued Momon.

Kazuma’s expression seemed to darken at that.

“You taught me some very useful things. Therefore, your reward.”

Kazuma looked inside the bag again, feeling the weight of the coin in it.

“Now then,” stated Momon assertively as he turned towards Shalltear. “I do believe we have some business to attend to.” Momon turned back to Kazuma. “I do hope we can work together in the future,” he said, bowing.

Kazuma only nodded mutely, still trying to understand what the hell just happened.

With that, Shalltear and Momon continued towards the front gate, leaving the shocked remains of Kazuma’s party to stand there with one million Eris in hand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To say Aqua was afraid would be an understatement. She was petrified. Momon. Momonga. Whatever his name was, whatever _he_ was, all she wanted to do was run. Far away from him. Far away from the world he inhabited. Far away from anything that reminded her of him or…

_Them._

The moment he killed that dragon, the moment she felt that _dark_ mana course from him into the ground, into the beast, she knew what he was. She felt it. The world bent to him, defying every law and order the Gods made to do so. There were some where it couldn’t, such as the case for that bolt of acid he cast, in which the magic bent to the world. But the bones erupting from the ground. The cloud of pure _death_ seething its way into the dragon.

It was magic that even the gods feared.

She shuddered, her body’s natural Godlike essence straining to keep itself together. It recognized it, too. The magic of beings not from the world. Gods… No, beings of unsurpassed power, who’s very existence could shatter the very fabric of the world the gods created with loving and tender care. Her mind flashed back. Back to a time she didn’t want to think about. Back to the place that changed not just her, but heaven itself.

The Gilded War.

Just thinking those words made her retract. She barely felt her body fall, her godlike form suddenly manhandled by a mortal. She barely heard the piercing questions of the NEET, the loli…

Of _him_.

She felt his dark mana again. She felt it violate her. She registered his words. **[See Through]**. She felt it probe her mind, but she wouldn’t let it take her. The dark mana conflicted with her. She felt it. Suddenly, she fell deeper. Too far deep for the magic to find her. Until she saw the things she tried so hard to hide.

_It was dark. Ringing in her ears. She heard it. Booming. Explosions. Shouting. Panic. She felt it. Ground. Hard. Wet. Mana. Course. Messy. More._

_She opened her eyes. Carnage. Bodies. Corpses. Sightless eyes. Devoid of life. Fear plastered on their faces._

_She felt her hair. Matted on her head, usually pristine, but…_

_Blood. Blood on the ground. Crimson red. She smelt the musty iron. There was another. Ichor. Gold. Liquid Gold. Pure in its divine mana. The blood of the gods. She shook her head. Gods couldn’t get wounded. And yet._

_She looked. Humans. Gods. Prayers._

_Demons. Cackling._

_The Lords._

_They sat, observing. The feathers of the bestial patriarch. The ooze of the Monster Queen._

_The blackened blade of the Godkiller, wielded the King of Demons._

_Aqua watched._

_Asentra, Goddess of Hunts, her bow strong, her golden ichor flowing between cuts on her divine flesh. She had a large following. Hunters across the land would commonly pray to her for a good harvest._

_Her waist effortless cleaved, her ichor and divine essence devoured by the blackened blade, runes edged red with divine energy._

_Belliarus, God of Battles and Carnage. This was his area. He knew the battle field. He was in his element._

_His head, effortlessly severed, his warforged eyes going dark as his body dissipated into gilded light._

_Gaeus. Her Gaeus. To love a god was forbidden without mutual consent. It was lucky he shared those feelings. To see the God of Earth lift up the mortals with his benevolent gaze and encouraging words._

_To see that benevolent gaze look at her as the evil blade impaled him. To see the light of the one she loved snuffed out._

_Aqua heard. Laughter. Deep. Cackling. Joyous. She turned. Quaking. Fearfully._

_The Demon. Sword in clawed hand. Caprine head gleaming with sick joy._

_She rose. Fury and sadness. She charged. She was water. She was Aqua. The head turned._

_Horns._

_Head._

_Hands._

_Blade._

_Stomach._

_Pain._

_Dark._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We got some rather intriguing dialog with Ainz and Kazuma, with Kazuma getting a little too hopeful about Ainz's intentions. We also got some flashbacks to... something, with Aqua. What the hell happened? Anyway, next chapter is Overlord. There may be a time jump. How massive is TBD, but odds are it will sync up with a certain moment that Konosuba fans have been anticipating.


	11. Learning and Mistakes

“Thank you for coming, my guardians,” said Ainz regally. “There are certain matters I wished to check up on, as well as assign.”

The five guardians bowed their heads. Ainz was currently seated at his desk in his office, with a large sum of Eris next to him. Luna had said it’s concentration of elements, while enough to give off the impression of their associated currency, was still horrendously skewed towards cheaper materials. Nonetheless, to have a massive collection of the currency would help with future dealings. 

The assembled guardians before him consisted only of Albedo, Demiurge, Shalltear, Aura, and Mare. Cocytus had been put in charge of defense of the Great Tomb of Nazerick, while Sebas and the Pleiades were guarding the throne room. However, judging from Ainz’s personal experience with the inhabitants, he doubted that anyone could pass through the floors, but it never hurt to be cautious. Albedo was situated on his left, standing attentively by him. Her posture was naturally formal, but her eyes occasionally flickered with a mad love he assumed she didn’t know he noticed. Demiurge was also to his left, although he was in front of his desk. His left hand was behind his back, his right lifting his glasses higher up his nose. His eyes gleamed both with the light reflecting off of their white facets and with unnatural intelligence. Standing to his right was Shalltear. Since Ainz had been taking her with him, he noticed a significant increase in her mood and overall demeanor. She seemed more energetic and less ashamed, although Ainz could still see the etches of her shame in her eyes. Finally, to Ainz’s center and right stood the twins. Mare was clutching his staff tightly, no doubt timid about the current position he was in towards Ainz. As for Aura, her excitement radiated off of her like a shining star, lighting up the room.

“Aura,” stated Ainz. “How goes the reconnaissance of the surrounding woods?”

Aura tensed her shoulders in excitement. “There aren’t many powerful creatures around us,” reported Aura. “But the ones we have managed to find seem to be hiding from something.”

Ainz nodded. “I have been notified that the surrounding fauna is attuned to the energy of the forest,” stated Ainz. “The presence of undead, as well as other forces in the forest seem to frighten them.”

Aura nodded in thought.

“Which brings me to the reason I wanted you here, Mare.”

Mare perked up. 

“I want you to do some research into methods of cloaking the energies of Nazerick,” Ainz stated. “This will most likely stop the neighboring village from sending adventurers into the woods, as well as increase our profits.”

Mare nodded dutifully.

“Now then,” continued Ainz. “Demiurge, there is a specific…”

“Lord Ainz?”

Ainz stopped and turned to a rather embarrassed-looking Shalltear.

“Um… I was wondering why you decided to take those human adventurers on one of those quests,” she asked. “They _are_ rather weak.”

Ainz’s gaze flicked to the curious glances of Mare and Aura. He mentally sighed.

“I simply needed to appraise their power levels, as well as their abilities,” said Ainz dismissively.

Shalltear nodded thoughtfully, as did Mare and Aura. 

Ainz sat back, thankful for their acceptance of that answer, when Demiurge stepped forward, a grin on his face.

Ainz inwardly groaned, but partially looked forward to what Demiurge had to say. In truth, Ainz had been reading up on methods for strategic thinking, planning, and tactics in Ashurbanipal, and while he wasn’t quite on par with Demiurge, he felt he had a decent grasp on the plan he wanted. 

_I need to know how this world’s system of magic works,_ thought Ainz. _Luna told me about skills, but not on how to learn them. I needed to do research, but once I know more, Nazerick can become stronger because of it._

 _Plus_ , Ainz added as an afterthought. _Kazuma is a remarkably japanese name. If there’s a nation like Japan here, or if he came from Japan, I need to figure out where that nation is, or how he got here._

“Naturally,” said Demiurge assertively, snapping Ainz out of his thoughts. “It seems you all lack the foresight to see Lord Ainz’s true thinking.”

Ainz nodded to himself. Right on schedule. “As expected, Demiurge,” replied Ainz. “You have determined my true thinking.”

Demiurge bowed. “It was made obvious by your disgust for those adventurer’s,” said Demiurge. “To think that not even the fellow guardians could detect it is quite saddening.”

This gave Ainz pause. _Wait_. 

“Demiurge, I permit you to explain to everyone my plan as you see it.”

Demiurge bowed. “With pleasure.”

He turned away from Ainz and Albedo towards the others.

“The adventure that Ainz had taken these humans on was a test of their strength, as we all know.” explained Demiurge. “However, as Lord Ainz had witnessed, their power barely scratched a relatively low-leveled drake. Lord Ainz’s actions have shown that he sees this as the perfect opportunity for exploitation!”

Ainz mentally stood aback. _Demiurge, whaaa…_

“This shows that, through the befriendment and manipulation of these low-leveled humans, we can commit to Lord Ainz’s ultimate..!”

“I’m going to stop you there, Demiurge,” said Ainz commandingly.

Demiurge immediately closed his mouth and bowed obediently.

Ainz listened to Demiurge a lot. The Arch-Devil was considered the smartest entity in Nazerick, excluding Ainz. However, the direction he took Ainz’s actions was _way_ off.

“I’m afraid, Demiurge,” stated Ainz morosely. “That you couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Demiurge was visibly floored. As were the rest of the guardians. The chief strategist? _Wrong!?!_

In truth, Ainz was overwhelmed. Demiurge was taking this in a direction he didn’t want to go. From what he’d seen, Kazuma’s party was not using their full strength, and if they had, they could most likely overpower Nazerick. Demiurge’s explanation was dangerous, if not outright deadly, for Nazerick, and if taken to the extreme, it could spell Nazerick’s fall. 

Demiurge knelt, his face inches from the ground. “My apologies, my lord,” stated Demiurge, his voice shaking with sorrow and shame.

Ainz sighed. “Rise, Demiurge. There is no need for you to prostrate yourself.”

“I must atone,” said Demiurge, his position not wavering. 

Ainz sighed again. If Demiurge was going to act like this, he would have worded his statement better.

“Demiurge,” said Ainz, this time with more authority. “Rise from your position.”

Shakily and hesitantly, Demiurge rose to a standing position, however his head was still bowed.

“Demiurge, I’m afraid you couldn’t discern my plan because you lacked information I had.”

Demiurge lifted his head. “My lord?”

“Kazuma Satou and his party radiate a magic aura on par with a level 90 creature,” stated Ainz.

The floor guardian’s eyes widened, with Demiurge’s glasses almost fell to the ground at the statement. 

“Naturally,” said Ainz. “I observed this personally, and therefore made a plan around it.”

Demiurge nodded mutely.

Ainz sat back, satisfied with the explanation.

“I’m guessing you can see the problems with your plan now?” asked Ainz.

Demiurge nodded.

“As punishment, I ask that you explain what would happen if we went that route, only with the current knowledge now taken into account.”

Ainz smiled to himself. This was exactly what the strategist book had told him to do. He guessed that Ulbert had consulted it multiple times when making Demiurge, and silently thanked his old companion as Demiurge explained the catastrophe of what could happen.

As Demiurge finished, Ainz sat up. 

“Excellent, Demiurge.” commended Ainz. “You employed the alternative scenario exactly as I have foreseen it.”

Demiurge bowed, his gaze filled with renewed vigor. 

“Now then, I have an assignment for you and Albedo,” stated Ainz.

Both Demiurge and Albedo started. “My Lord?” they asked in unison.

Ainz put his hands together. “It is about this world’s so-called Demon King.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“To think, I was such a _fool_ !” cried Demiurge outside of Ainz’s office. He and Albedo had been dismissed so as to discuss their new assignment. However, shame wracked his head at the realization that he had _failed_ Lord Ainz.

“Lord Ainz has not faulted you,” stated Albedo matter-of-factly. “He had said your plan was excellent, only that it lacked information.”

“That does not excuse my failure!” cried Demiurge. “I should have foreseen that Lord Ainz had something different in mind! It is my duty as the chief strategist to understand every angle!”

“And you did,” returned Albedo calmly. “He had you state why that plan was problematic, did he not?”

Demiurge only nodded mutely. 

Albedo clapped her hands together. “We should further discuss this new assignment.”

Demiurge nodded, then composed himself. “This ‘Demon King’ seems to rely heavily on his subordinates.” 

Albedo nodded. “And Lord Ainz has entrusted us with discovering anything in regards to this Demon King, as well as handle it accordingly.”

Demiurge nodded. “The ‘lesser demons’ are most likely his, so that most likely means he has a mediocre amount of power at his disposal.” Demiurge put a finger to his chin. “We may have to gather more information.”

Albedo nodded. “Perhaps we could send imps to learn more about the Demon King?”

Demiurge thought for a moment, before nodding.

“I imagine we will most likely require some…” suddenly, he stopped as an odd figure came into view.

Albedo turned as well to see the odd shape of a tan-colored humanoid in a yellow trench coat walking towards the door of Ainz’s office, carrying a large box made of marble, inlaid with gold and a sigil of an angel and demons wings surrounding a sword engraved on the top. 

Demiurge’s gaze hardened. “You there!” he cried commandingly. “State your…”

“Pandora’s Actor,” interrupted Albedo. “What brings you away from the treasury?”

Demiurge stood aback as the figure turned towards the pair.

“ _Mademoiselle_ !” cried Pandora’s Actor dramatically. “So lovely to see such a _voluptuous_ beauty such as yourself here before our Lord’s quarters!”

Albedo’s smile looked grated as she responded. “Do you have business with Lord Ainz?”

Pandora’s Actor waved his hands in the air as he dramatically responded. “Yes! Lord Ainz has indeed summoned me from the depths of the Treasury to deliver unto him a _very_ specific parcel!”

Demiurge looked questioningly at Pandora’s Actor. “What parcel?” he asked accusingly.

Pandora’s Actor’s body seemed to compose itself suddenly.

“ _Wer ist dieser Idiot, der zu mir spricht?_ ” he shouted. 

Demiurge and Albedo blinked in confusion.

“What is Lord Ainz having you deliver?” Albedo reiterated.

Pandora’s Actor gestured widely into the air. “Why, items that could shake the very fabric of reality! Items that transcend all others! The one! The only!”

With that, Pandora’s Actor opened the door to Ainz’s office and entered, leaving a shocked and confused Albedo and Demiurge in his wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. Sorry for the delay. Had a bit of writers block, and then Thanksgiving happened. As for this chapter, Ainz is learning! Also, Demiurge isn't all knowing, so him making a mistake like that makes sense. As for Pandora's Actor, that box may come in handy very soon. As well as maybe have some no-so-great reaction with Aqua. Anyway, next chapter is Konosuba, and unlike this chapter, I have a pretty good idea of how the next one is going to go.


	12. The Headless Horseman

Kazuma stared incredulously at the sobbing form of Aqua before him, her loud sobbing practically drawing out the surrounding bar noise. That being said, not many adventures were there, so there wasn’t much bar noise to begin with. 

“Let me get this straight,” said Kazuma, clenching the bridge of his nose and visibly trying to keep his composure. “You managed, in the span of a few days, rack of a bar tab of _five hundred thousand eris_.”

Whatever answer Aqua seemed to give was drowned out by her continued sobbing. 

“At this rate, you’ll bankrupt us before we even get the chance to get a decent house!”

Aqua continued to sob, only now added by banging her fists on the table.

Kazuma turned away from Aqua in a huff, clutching the slightly-lighter coin purse that held the money Momon had given them. His gaze settled on his partymates, and saw their disapproving glares. 

Kazuma shot daggers at them. “What?” he asked accusingly.

Darkness naturally squirmed under his gaze, while Megumin simply huffed indignantly.

“Don’t you think you’re being a little hard on her?” asked Megumin demeaningly.

“You think it should be _okay_ for her to blow the money that Momon guy gave us on drinks!?!” Kazuma shot back.

“You’ll refer to “Momon” in a more regal tone if you know what’s good for you,” came a haughty voice to Kazuma’s left. He turned to see the familiar white shape of Shalltear Bloodfallen sitting on the opposite table trimming her nails with what appeared to be a file. 

Kazuma paled. “Duly noted,” he said meekly.

Shalltear nodded, satisfied, before returning to her nails.

“Quick question,” said Kazuma. “Where is your, er… partner?”

Shalltear flicked her head towards the receptionist desk. Kazuma shifted his gaze to see Momon receiving a literal mountain of cash, followed by the Ebony Warrior shoving it all in some sort of storage magic. He would need to learn that skill when he gets the chance. As Momon finished, Kazuma returned to the useless goddess bawling her eyes out.

“The only reason I keep you around is because of your healing magic.” staed Kazuma annoyed. “All I’d need to do is learn that, and I wouldn’t need you here anymore.”

Aqua’s bawling stopped as she looked up in shock at Kazuma, absorbing the statement. Suddenly, new tears began to well up as she realized the meaning behind his words.

“That was uncalled for,” stated the deep voice of Momon behind him.

Kazuma turned suddenly to meet the disapproving glare of the ebony-clad adventurer. 

“A party relies on all members for their unique talents,” he stated. “Saying that one’s skills are obsolete is equivalent to saying they are worthless, or a waste of space.”

Kazuma managed to not state that he was describing Aqua to a tee.

Suddenly, Kazuma, Momon, and their parties heard a shouting.

“Emergency! Emergency!” she cried. “We need all Adventurers to arm themselves immediately! Make your way to the main gate and arm yourselves for battle!”

Every Adventurer in the group suddenly stood and rushed outwards. Momon and Kazuma looked at each other in shock, both with the same questions on their minds: _what could warrant an emergency like this?_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kazuma was relatively surprised to see so many adventurers outside. However, that surprise turned to shock and awe at the sight before him. 

The figure before them all was backlit by a bolt of lightning, it’s mounted figure accented by the light. It’s armor was regal, darkened steel organized in plates not dissimilar to Momon’s. Large crystals seemed to dot the front plates and shoulder pads, and what wasn’t covered in plates had a dark chainmail mesh. What startled Kazuma the most, however, was it’s head. Or, depending on the point of view, its lack of one. Clutched in the crook of his left hand like a beachball sat a helmeted head, obscured beneath the shadow of its helmet. Only its eyes were visible, glowing a monstrous red. The headless knight sat atop an ebony black horse, its reins held in his right hand leading to nothing but open air. Figures that a headless rider would require a headless steed as well. 

Amidst the cries of fear and revulsion (some even coming from himself,) he could hear the confirming statement from Momon himself: “A Dullahan.”

“What’s this about?” asked Aqua innocently. 

Kazuma looked at her incredulously. “Are you blind?” he asked. “There’s a nightmare standing there!”

As he finished the sentence, the Dullahan seemed to draw the attention of the onlookers. 

“I am one of the Devil King’s Generals,” he stated imposingly.

There was a collective gulp from the crowd.

“And I have been stationed as of late in a nearby castle.” he continued. The Dullahan seemed to shake with rage as he continued his statement.

“Every day,” he continued, his anger and tone rising with each word. “Every single day, every _bloody damn day_ , one of you maniacs comes into my home AND HURLS EXPLOSION SPELLS AT IT, AND I DEMAND TO KNOW WHO IT IS!!!”

The Dullahan’s fury was further accentuated as his headless stead bucked and neighed.

A collective muttering began around the crowd.

“Explosion spells?”

“Who uses Explosion Spells around here?”

All eyes turned to Megumin, who had the decency to blush under the scrutiny. She then turned an accusing gaze towards an innocent young mage.

As the gazes turned towards the mage, who started stuttering about having a family, Kazuma noticed Momon send a _very_ disapproving glare towards Megumin. 

Megumin noticed it and sighed before proceeding forward towards the Dullahan. Her gaze seemed grim and determined as she strode towards the Dullahan, who eyed her with fury in his gaze.

As she stopped a few feet in front of the Dullahan, she stared defiantly at him.

“You?” stated the general, his anger seething. “ _You_ are the imbecile who’s been blasting my castle day after day after day!?!”

Megumin never flinched as he continued his tirade. 

“If you know who I am and wish to pick a fight,” he continued. “Then have the decency to announce yourself properly _before_ you attack!”

Kazuma looked at the undead incredulously. _What?_

“Otherwise, keep well away from my home, understand!?!” the Dullahan monologues. “Honestly, this harassment is completely unwarranted! I _spared_ your town thinking it wasn’t worth my time, and how do you repay me?”

He was shouting the last parts now. “With a boom. Boom! BOOM! Every single goddamn day! You must be out of your flipping MIND, you little witch!”

One would think that after a tirade like that, Megumin would bow down and ask for mercy. Either that or simple apologize and promise to leave the castle be. However, to Kazuma’s utter dismay, this wasn’t the path she took at all.

“I am Megumin!” she exclaimed pridefully. “I am an Arch-Wizard, one who commands explosions magic!”

What followed was an awkward silence, broken only by the Dullahan’s confused statement.

“What is a ‘Megumin’?” he asked, confused. “Are you pulling my leg?”

“N-no!” cried Megumin indignantly.

“I am of the Crimson Demon Clan, and the greatest mage in this whole town!”

Kazuma could have sworn he heard a haughty snort of laughter before it was quickly shushed.

“Yes, I knew you were one of the Demon King’s generals!” continued Megumin, to Kazuma’s increasing dismay. “T-that’s why I used explosions as a strategy to flush you out!”

Megumin smiled sinisterly, although a small bead of sweat trickled down her neck. “It seems my plan worked and you’ve come alone, like a fool!”

Kazuma put his head in his hands. _What the hell is she thinking!?!_

The Dullahan seemed to laugh. “Very well,” he proclaimed. “I did not come here to mettle with _Novices_ anyway.”

The General proceed to yank the reins of his headless steed. “I shall be staying at the castle indefinitely.” he turned, preparing to leave. “Do not use your spell on it ever again, understood?”

“No!” cried Megumin. “A Crimson Demon must use Explosion once a day, or will die!”

The Dullahan visibly blanched, as did the crowd. Kazuma shook his head, ashamed.

“What!?!” cried the General. “I’ve never heard that before! You just made that up!”

The undead seemed to compose itself. “I take it you intend on continuing to bombard my castle, then?

Megumin nodded indignantly.

The Dullahan seemed to think for a moment. “I may be evil now, but I was a knight once,” he proclaimed. “Killing the weak never appealed to me…”

His eyes glared with focused fury. “...until now.”

Megumin, seeming oblivious to his threatening undertones, only proclaimed, “You, sir, should have run away when you had the chance!”

With that, she gestured behind her towards the assembled crowd. “M’lady!” she cried. “You’re assistance, please!”

Kazuma looked at her, then looked at Aqua, who smirked. “Time for me to go to work,” she said proudly. With that, she sprinted towards Megumin and the undead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Verdia could scarcely believe the nerve of this girl. He had come here intending to simply scare the ever-living wits out of her, and maybe gain her allegiance. Instead, her defiance had been most… infuriating. She simply refused to back down, and while he wanted nothing more than to leave this disgusting rathole of a city, he had a reputation to uphold. However, there was something… _else._ He had sensed it the moment the crowd showed up. A power unlike any he had every felt. Verdia was in service to the Demon King, and had felt and seen power of all scopes and potencies. This, however, was something different. It felt… _wrong_. Out of place. Like the very world was rebelling against it. He couldn’t exactly pinpoint where it was, but it was there. His attention however, was shifted to the rapidly advancing blue-haired girl rushing towards him. 

“I don’t care if you are the Demon King’s General!” she proclaimed. “I was foolish to move to this territory while _I’m_ living here!”

Suddenly, a staff appeared in her outstretched right hand, materializing in a beam of pure blue light. 

“Because of you, I haven’t had any decent quests to go on!” she cried contemptuously. “And now, I’m about to correct that!”

 _What is up with this town being full of egotistical newbies!?!_ Verdia cried internally.

“Well, what do we have here?” asked Verdia outwardly, his voice seemingly unimpressed. “An Arch-Priest?”

Verdia could almost laugh. “I am one of the Devil King’s top generals! And I can withstand whatever low-level spells a priest from _this_ town can conjure!”

Suddenly, Verdia had an idea. “I know!” he said evilly. “Let’s have that Crimson Demon whelp suffer a bit.”

He was satisfied to see fear flash in her expression. He let go of his horse’s reins and held up his hand. He pooled his mana into a blackened aura that surrounded it.

“Not if I purify you with my prayer, first!” cried the blue-hair priest. The undead groaned inwardly. _Idiot. As if your power could surpass mine_.

“You’re too late,” cried Verdia as he pointed his now aura-covered hand at the Archmage. “ **I sentence thee...** **_to death_ ** . **In one week, you shall** **_die_ ** **!** ”

With that, a bolt of darkened energy shot from his hand towards the Archmage. As it was about to collide, a figure adorned in white armor blocked the path of the spell and collided with it. The figure screamed as the aura manifested in a skull-like shape, before shrinking into them. As the curse’s signature faded, he heard someone scream “Darkness!” followed by a young man running towards the now collapsed form of what appeared to be a female crusader. 

As the man and the Archmage proceeded to help her up, Verdia now realized how much better everything had turned out to be.

“This unexpected turn of events,” he stated. “Might actually be more preferable, seeing as how close the bonds are between you.”

The Dullahan grabbed his reins. 

“In one week, Crimson Demon child, your crusader will die.” he stated with cold certainty. He laughed before continuing. “Until then, she will suffer as she trembles in terror at her impending doom.”

He forced his head to look at the Archmage. “And it is _all your fault_.”

He reveled in the guilt and fear that became evident on the witch’s face as she realized the suffering she had caused. “Yes,” he said sinisterly. “Watch her suffer for the next seven days, and boil in the hell of your guilt!”

He forced his horse back towards the forest and chuckled. “This would not have happened had you accepted my offer.”

‘You fiend,” he heard the crusader exclaim. “You have chained this diabolical death curse to me.” 

Verdia inwardly chuckled, while marveling at the strength of the crusader. She was starting to garner his respect.

“And the only way to remove it… is to submit to your whims.”

Verdia stopped. _Whaaa?_

“You wish to defile me, don’t you!?!” cried the crusader.

Verdia stopped and turned. “What?” he cried audibly.

He saw the woman steel herself. “I will not allow a mere curse to break my spirit!” she continued. “I cannot give in, but…” she turned to the man beside her, her face blushing and… _smiling_. 

_What the hell!?!_

“What should I do, Kazuma!?!” she exclaimed lustfully. “I can feel his filthy eyes on me! Hungry! _Wanting!_ They’re the eyes of a degenerate who would make a sex slave of me!”

All the while, Verdia was becoming increasingly more panicked. Just what the _hell_ was wrong with this crusader!

“And to break the foul curse,” continued the horney crusader. “I shall have to submit my body to all manner of pornographic acts! Over and over again!”

She stopped for a moment, breathing deeply and evenly, before continuing. “You may dominate my body if you wish,” she proclaimed. “But you will not dominate my heart!”

She shuddered. “Can you imagine it? A female knight in chains, made the plaything of the Demon King’s minion!”

She turned toward the man again. “Oh the horror!” she exclaimed. “What should I do, Kazuma!?! How could I have expected things to become so risque?”

She folded in on her gut. “I do not want to go, but…” she continued breathlessly. “I have no choice!”

She proceeded to run _towards_ the undead, stating “I shall resist as long as I can. Do not try and save me!”

As she neared, she exclaimed with finality “I shall return some day!”

Verdia had had enough. “You _madwoman!_ ” he exclaimed.

Just as she drew closer, she was held back by the man named Kazuma. “You aren’t going anywhere,” he shouted at her before proceeding to force her back. “And quit freaking out the Dullahan already!”

Verdia couldn’t handle what just happened. As the two began to scramble, he had to mentally reassert himself.

“A-anyway,” he said, his voice cracking at first before he reasserted himself. “No more blowing up my home!”

He pointed at the witch. “As for you, Crimson Demon girl,” he stated ominously. “If you wish for me to lift my curse on your comrade, come to my castle.”

He reveled in the look of dread on the girl’s face as he continued. “If you make it past my undead knights to my chamber, I shall spare her.”

He led his horse back towards the forest for hopefully the last time, saying, “but I promise you it will be very, _very_ difficult.”

With that he laughed maniacally as a crimson flame enveloped him and sent him back towards his castle, eager to see the foolish girl that had decided to blow up his castle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unbeknownst to everyone, Momon looked on as the Dullahan disappeared, not with fear, not with worry, but with... _curiosity_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. A lot of the lines here were ripped straight from the anime (I wanted it to be as accurate as possible), and that process isn't exactly easy since I can't exactly find scripts for the episodes. Nonetheless, Darkness has the curse in her, and Ainz is now aware of Verdia's existence. Next Chapter will be Overlord, and we'll get to see Ainz's reaction to what just happened.


	13. Gods and Demons

The events that had transpired had surprised Ainz more than he had let on, but not for the expected reasons. Yes, he had been surprised by the Dullahan along with everyone else. His surprise at finding out how _woefully_ under-informed he was about the inhabitants of the forest sparked a small bit of annoyance in him before it was suppressed.

Another bit of information he was surprised about was its power. The undead not only seemed to be fully capable of sentient thought, as well as suggesting its immense physical strength, but Ainz had the piece of mind to check its magical aura. 

Needless to say, its power was significant. 

While it was nowhere near the power levels of Kazuma’s Party (Or the Floor Guardians, for that matter), he saw that it could quite handily overpower the Pleiades Battle Maids if fought one at a time. His power surpassed them marginally, but it still shocked Ainz that an undead of that caliber existed in this world. As it disappeared in a spell he noticed was remarkably similar to his own **[Gate]** spell, he shifted his gaze towards Kazuma’s party, who all had their eyes either on Darkness, Megumin, or the ground.

Ainz sighed, then proceeded to walk towards the morose party, with Shalltear following suit. As he arrived, he saw Megumin turn to him with a timid, but determined look. Understanding immediately, he almost felt his non-existent heart warm at the sight, and he nodded in approval.

She seemed to steel herself, then proceeded to walk in the direction of the forest.

“Hey!” cried Kazuma confusedly. “Where are you going?”

Without turning to him, she responded. “I’m going to the castle, give that Dullahan a dose of my explosion spell right in his face, and l-lift the curse from Darkness,” she stated, determined at first, but less so as she continued. She turned back to them and gave a half-hearted smile.

Kazuma sighed, then smiled, running to meet her. At her bewildered expression, he responded “Well, I ain’t letting you go alone.”

Megumin looked up at him in adoration. 

“I don’t want you wasting your spell on one of his guards,” he continued, chuckling. “That’d be the end of you.”

Kazuma rubbed the back of his head. “Besides,” he said awkwardly. “I was there all those times you blew up his castle. I should have known it belonged to someone.”

Megumin looked pensive, before saying “Fine. If you insist.”

She looked downward. “Although,” she continued. “You heard what he said about the undead knights there. Conventional weapons won’t affect them.”

Ainz mentally blanched at that information. What kind of immunity did the undead of this world have that allowed for that?

“The only thing we have that would is magic,” she stated dejectedly. “My magic.”

Then, she smiled up at Kazuma. “For once,” she cried happily, “you’ll have to totally rely on me!”

Seeing the comradeship between the two triggered a memory in Ainz. He remembered the time he, Touch Me, and Pereroncino raided a low level base. The guild that was housed there had taken one of their newest members as hostage in exchange for World Items. He remembered the genuine concern that crossed their collective faces. It warmed his heart to see their joy at the successful rescue. 

“‘Greater love hath no man than this, than he lay down his life for his friends,’” quoted Ainz.

All four members of the party turned to him, surprised. 

As the meaning of those words dawned on Kazuma and Megumin, Ainz turned to analyze the curse on Darkness. 

To his surprise, its effects were rather simple. After a specific period in time that was determined by the caster, the bearer of the curse’s life energy would be consumed and dispersed, killing the bearer. It was a clever curse, but rather easy to dispel.

Ainz was tempted to do so, but, shifting his gaze to the determined looks of Megumin and Kazuma, decided against it. He knew that, with that bond, they would go through hell and back to beat the undead, and didn’t want to ruin that for them.

Aqua… deemed otherwise.

“Sacred Dispel!!” she cried ceremoniously. Suddenly, a beam of rainbow energy flowed from the end of her staff and surrounded Darkness. Suddenly, she screamed in bliss as Ainz saw the curse melt away. He felt a slight discomfort as the spell took effect, and the errant thought of why was quickly dismissed as the curse clouding Darkness vanished completely.

Naturally, everyone was shocked. Both Kazuma and Megumin looked both surprised and crestfallen at the same time. Even Ainz was surprised at the potency of the spell, and reminded himself of the aura that surrounded the blue-haired Archpriest.

“For me,” stated Aqua proudly. “Lifting some old Dullahan’s curse is child’s play.”

She turned towards Kazuma, sending him a look of demeaning playfulness. “See?” she said smugly. “I can be awfully priestish when I get the chance!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What followed was a long night of celebrating that Ainz and Shalltear did not partake in. Indeed, Ainz had more pressing matters as he made his way back towards the tomb. However, as they traversed, he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure leaping between the trees.

“Aura,” cried Ainz. “I request your presence.”

At once, the Dark Elf jumped down from her perch and landed gracefully in front of Ainz.

“How may I serve you, O’ Exalted One?” she asked diligently.

“Is there a reason you neglected to inform me of any details regarding the undead in the castle?” Ainz asked.

Aura paled. “Um,” she hesitated. “I honestly didn’t think it was something to worry about, my lord.”

Ainz took a second to process that. A second that Shalltear took to scowl at Aura.

“Why are you not groveling for forgiveness for your…”

“Enough, Shalltear,” Ainz cut her off. He turned back to Aura. “I want you to keep close tabs on that undead. It is a Dullahan of considerable power.”

Both Aura and Shalltear paled. _Considerable Power?_

“My lord,” Shalltear asked timidly. “Does it threaten Nazerick?”

Ainz shook his head. “While it’s power is slightly superior to one of the Pleiades, I do not believe it can overpower all of Nazerick.”

The two Floor Guardians exhaled a sigh of relief.

“Nonetheless, I want you to keep a close watch on it,” finished Ainz. 

Aura nodded diligently, before leaping back up towards the treetops. Ainz, after confirming her to be gone, continued his walk back toward Nazerick.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The castle wasn’t anything too superior. Crafted from blackened stone, set against the rocky cliffs, one would originally think of it as an old ruin or stronghold. However, the visible magical barrier that surrounded it changed that. Something was definitely living there. Outside of the proximity of both the barrier and the patrolling “Lesser Demons” were the Overseer of the Guardians and the Guardian of the 7th floor of the great tomb of Nazerick.

“It doesn’t look that imposing,” stated Albedo, unimpressed. She was equipped with the [Hermes Trismegistus], her helmet in the crook of her arm, with both [Ginnungagap] and [3F] adorned on her back.

Demiurge only nodded, his crystalline eyes focused on the barrier. Unlike Albedo, he hadn’t changed his attire. He was still adorned in his maroon striped suit. 

“Can’t we seriously just slaughter the entire castle?” asked Albedo impatiently.

Demiurge looked at her callously. “In order to facilitate Lord Ainz’s plans, hostilities are to be used only if absolutely necessary,” he stated impatiently.

Albedo returned the callus glare, but cooled down. “Very well,” she stated coolly. “If that is what Lord Ainz wishes.”

As the two waited, Albedo’s impatience grew again. “What are we waiting for?” she asked irritably.

Demiurge sighed. “In order to infiltrate the castle,” explained Demiurge. “We need to determine the strength of that shield.”

Confusing crossed Albedo’s gaze as he continued.

“Since I lack the ability to do that, unlike the Supreme Beings,” Demiurge continued, the last phrase said with a slight tone of worship. “I requested a charm that would allow me to do so.”

As he finished, an Imp suddenly appeared before him. In the imp’s hand was what appeared to be a silver bracelet with a rather large sapphire located inside. Demiurge took it and dismissed the imp before putting it on. His eyes now refocused on the barrier, a slow grin spread across his face.

Albedo looked at him oddly.

“What is it, Demiurge?” she asked inquisitively.

“The barrier is only meant to keep creatures of Level 80 or below from entering without the expressed permission of the caster,” he stated.

Albedo soon shared his grin.

“That is beyond excellent,” she cried excitedly.

Demiurge nodded. “This may be easier than expected,” he proclaimed evilly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. Ainz ain't too happy with Aqua or Aura right now, and Demiurge and Albedo are doing... something. Anyway, Next chapter is Konosuba, and it will introduce our favorite (or least favorite, in Kazuma's case) sword-wielding hero.


	14. Bark and Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. College work is kind of hitting hard right now.

Kazuma awoke to the familiar uncomfortable feeling of the hay underneath him, mixed with a raging headache, dry mouth, and curled stomach of a hangover. Brilliant. He turned over to see Aqua clutching a bottle of rather expensive-looking booze in her sleep. Not even bothering to wonder how she had gotten it, he proceeded to take advantage of her deep snooze to swiftly change out of his tracksuit and into his adventurer’s garb. Checking his belongings, he noticed his coin purse was not slung across his belt like it usually was. Panic set in before he noticed the familiar sack sitting near Aqua. He also happened to notice that its size was significantly smaller than he last remembered. He looked angrily at Aqua, prepared to forcefully wake her to berate her for her misuse of their funds, when he stopped. Aqua’s face, usually filled with dreamy bliss, seemed clouded. Indeed, she seemed to be having a nightmare of some sort, as she tossed and turned in her little hay pile. His rage abated somewhat, replaced by confusion. What in hell could a goddess get nightmares about? Kazuma cast the thought aside and instead chucked his sheathed dagger at the goddess’ head. She awoke with a rather large snort, and stared at him with a mix of sleepiness and grumpiness. 

“Wake up, you moron,” said Kazuma, annoyance flaking his tone. “We got stuff to do today.”

Later, down by the adventurer’s guild, the assembled party took a tally of their funds. Kazuma’s observations were right on point: somehow, in the span of one night, they managed to blow four and a half thousand Eris on god knows what. It took all of Kazuma’s willpower not to throw Aqua out the window. However, that didn’t stop him from sending a very scathing look at her, to which she shied away from. Kazuma sighed. 

“We had a fortune for all of two weeks,” he said dejectedly. “Until some useless goddess blew the entire thing on drinks.”

This statement resulted in Megumin sharing his piercing glare. Meanwhile, Darkness, shivering at the tension that was no doubt turning her on, only watched with lustful glee. 

Finally, Kazuma’s stare broke. “You’re making up for this,” he said scathingly.

Aqua looked at him fearfully. 

He pointed at the adventurer’s board. “Go pick out a quest,” he stated. “You're going to earn our money back.”

Aqua huffed, before standing up and going to the board.

Megumin looked at Kazuma quizzically. “I can’t believe you’re letting her choose,” she stated. “I’m getting the feeling she’ll choose something horrific.”

Darkness seemed to light up at that statement. “I definitely wouldn’t mind a quest like that!” she exclaimed excitedly.

Kazuma sighed, realizing Megumin had a point, before standing up to oversee Aqua’s choice. 

Just as he arrived at the board, Aqua plucked a sheet off of the board.

“Hold it,” said Kazuma, plucking the sheet from Aqua’s grasp. “I want to see what you picked, first.”

Despite Aqua’s fierce resistance, he managed to read the first few words.

“‘A Manticore and a Griffin are fighting over territory in the region, and disturbing the peace’,” read Kazuma. “‘If you kill them, you will receive a reward of five hundred thousand Eris.’”

Kazuma looked at the now-dejected Aqua. He angrily slammed the paper back on the board.

“Are you out of your mind!?!” he cried incredulously.

_Thank god I came to check her quest._

Aqua, in response, eyed the board again before picking another paper.

“How about this one?” she asked tentatively. “‘Need to purify the town’s lake. It has become so foul that no one can drink from it, and brutal alligators have made it their home. The monsters will leave once it has been purified, so you won’t have to kill them.”

Kazuma’s eyes widened as he heard the reward amount.

“Three hundred thousand Eris reward,” finished Aqua.

She looked at Kazuma expectantly. “This one’s got my name all over it!” she exclaimed. Kazuma looked quizzically at her.

“You can purify water?” he asked surprisingly.

Aqua blinked. “I mean, yeah! Come on! With my name and looks, it should be obvious what I’m the goddess of.”

“Annoyances?” asked Kazuma snarkily.

Aqua shot him a glare. “No, you stupid NEET. I’m the goddess of water!”

Kazuma blinked in surprise. “Alright then,” replied Kazuma. “I guess we’ll take it.”

“Hold one moment,” came a deep voice behind him. Kazuma turned to see the armored form of Momon, flanked by the ever-present Shalltear, standing over him. 

“Would you mind if we accompanied you?” asked Momon chivalrously.

Kazuma managed to hide his shock this time, but nonetheless the question burning in his mind escaped from his mouth. “Why?”

Momon seemed surprised by the answer, and Kazuma clarified.

“Don’t you usually go on your own quests?” Kazuma asked quizzically.

“How _dare_ you!?!” exclaimed Shalltear. “My master has generously offered his aid in your endeavor, and you have the _gall_ to…”

Momon seemed to clear his throat, and Shalltear shut up immediately.

“In truth,” stated Momon. “My book of higher-leveled quests was… completed.”

Kazuma reeled in shock. These guys managed to complete that _dictionary_ of quests within, like, a week? These guys were on a whole other level.

“I have requested that Luna acquire the adventurer book from the Capital’s guild,” continued Momon. “But until that gets here, I’m afraid my inventory of quests is… limited.”

Kazuma took a moment to think. The quest they were going on didn’t pay as well as the ones Momon commonly did, but Kazuma couldn’t deny that the Ebony-clad adventurer could easily handle anything that was thrown at him. Especially considering he cleared that entire book in less than two weeks.

“As long as we get to keep the entire pay,” stated Kazuma, internally wincing at the obvious attempt at manipulation he was doing.

Shalltear hissed. “How _dare_ you…”

“Enough, Shalltear,” commanded Momon.

“No, my Lord!” cried Shalltear defiantly. “This _worm_ dares attempt to take advantage of you! I won’t allow…”

“ **Enough** , Shalltear,” Momon commanded more forcefully.

Shalltear clammed up again, although her fury was evident.

Momon turned to Kazuma. “I will agree to your terms,” he stated. Kazuma looked at him, bewildered. 

“As long as we get to take a quick detour on the way.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, why are we out here again?” asked Kazuma incredulously. Apparently, his and Momon’s idea of a “detour” were drastically different. Indeed, it seemed as though the mighty adventurer had decided to instead go completely off the set path they were on and go immediately into the fields near the woods. Not that Kazuma had a problem with it, it was just that he didn’t like the fact that the Ebony-clad warrior seemed to be _looking_ for something.

“There is an experiment I want to test out,” said Momon simply. Kazuma sighed before eyeing the warrior’s new gauntlets. Instead of the usual black pair the adventurer wore with his armor, he seemed to be wearing an odd, mismatched set. His left hand wore what Kazuma could only assume to be the most evil looking thing he could ever imagine. The gauntlet seemed to be made from a combination of hardened bone and weather obsidian, warped and contorted in an oddly beautiful and horrendous way. The tips of its fingers were clawed to sharpened points, with a crimson aura protruding through every uncovered orifice that it had. Every time Kazuma looked at the thing, it made him shiver. The gauntlet on his right hand, however, as the polar opposite. Seemingly made of the purest of silvers and marbles, the gauntlet looked pure and angelic. It’s white sheeting was embroidered elaborately with gold accents, and the fingers were so elegantly carved it seemed to exhibit an almost godlike purity. Where the black gauntlet repulsed him to his core, he found it hard to look away from the white one. 

Aqua had a different reaction upon seeing these gauntlets. The moment Momon pulled them out of his storage spell she seemed to almost faint. She was currently being supported by Darkness, who looked both troubled and aroused at the fact she was being a glorified packmule.

“What exactly are you testing?” asked Kazuma timidly.

Momon didn’t answer, instead focusing on finding whatever he was looking for. Kazuma turned in his general gaze, following it, only to see Shalltear in the distance.

He squinted.

“Good,” said Momon approvingly. “She found some.”

As Shalltear started getting bigger over the horizon, Kazuma noticed she was not alone. Indeed, she seemed to be followed by a rather massive toad. She didn’t look scared, though. Indeed, it seemed she was rather calm about the entire scenario. As the toad got bigger, Kazuma looked anxiously at Momon, trying to read him. Why was Shalltear _leading_ the toad and not slaughtering it?

Suddenly, Momon shouted, “ **[Greater Magic Seal: Release]**!”

Suddenly, a large ribcage erupted from the ground to clasp onto the giant toad. For a second it froze, coming to terms with the rather subdued position it was in, before it tried to jump out of its contaminants.

“Kazuma, be close,” said Momon.

Kazuma only nodded, curiosity pushing back his fear.

Momon walked towards the toad, its eyes building at its feeble attempts to escape. Soon, it noticed Momon steadily approaching it. As he got closer, the frog shot its tongue out at the armored adventurer. Quicker than lightning, Momon _caught_ the tongue in his left hand.

The hand adorned with the black gauntlet.

Soon, Kazuma’s look of curiosity turned to horror as he noticed the crimson aura of the gauntlet glow brighter. The frog noticed it too, and tried to squirm from Momon’s grasp. Momon’s grip never loosened, however, and as he continued to grip the frog’s tongue, Kazuma noticed that it seemed to shrink. Indeed, the bone cage that captured it started to compress as the animal slowly shrunk from view. Soon, Momon let go of the tongue, but by that time the frog was about as tiny as… a normal frog. Momon seemed to appraise the gauntlet a bit, before turning to meet Kazuma and his party’s horrified expressions.

“W-w-w-aaaa,” was all Kazuma could say, his voice failing to describe what just happened.

Suddenly, Momon placed his right hand on Kazuma’s shoulder. All at once, Kazuma felt an enormous amount of _something_ enter him, and he almost jumped in shock. As the feeling dissipated, Momon stepped back.

“Could you check your adventurer card?” asked Momon.

Kazuma only nodded as he took it out and…

His eyes widened to the size of grapefruits.

His level had increased by _20_.

Kazuma turned to Momon, then back at the card, then back at Momon, then repeated this process multiple times in astonishment.

Even Megumin and Darkness shared the mutual shock at what had transpired.

“What did you just do?” asked Kazuma incredulously once his voice returned.

Momon held up his hands to show the gauntlets. “These are known as Avarice...” he lifted the black one. “...and Generosity.” He lifted the white one. “Avarice feasts off the Experience points of a creature it comes in contact with, and Generosity either stores or distributes them.”

Kazuma looked down at the card.

“What kind of god gave you that item?” asked Kazuma, bewildered.

“Those gauntlets did not come from the gods,” stated a voice behind them. All five individuals turned to see a remarkably venomous Aqua glaring at them from Darkness’ back. 

Momon seemed to think for a moment, before removing the pieces of armor and storing them back in his storage spell.

“Now then,” said Momon dismissively. “I do believe you have a lake to purify?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thankfully, after Momon’s “experiment,” it seemed the OP party was giving Kazuma and the others a hand’s off approach when it came to their aid in the lake purification. They didn’t seem to judge him for buying a cage, nor storing Aqua in said cage. Quite the contrary, actually. Momon actually complimented Kazuma on his ingenuity with the plan, which caused Kazuma to warm up on the inside. That and the extra twenty levels he got from those gauntlets (Kazuma was determined to find some way to get those eventually). As they neared the lake, Momon and Shalltear seemed to hang back, casually watching the proceedings without actually intervening. Once Kazuma and his party were out of earshot, Kazuma began whispering.

“Okay, spill,” he whispered accusingly to her. “What kind of items are those gauntlets, and how do I get them?”

Aqua winced and sent him a venomous glare. 

Kazuma simply waited.

“They aren’t from this world,” she stated simply, her glare intensifying.

Kazuma waited some more, but Aqua refused to budge. 

As they passed the tree, Megumin and Darkness hung back, allowing Kazuma to push the cage towards the lake. 

“If you get into any trouble, just call.” said Kazuma as he tied the chain to a nearby rock. Aqua didn’t reply, and made no outward movement as he pushed her cage into the lake.

Then he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Every so often, he would shout to Aqua if she needed anything, but judging from her silent response, he assumed she was fine.

Soon, he got bored. The others, however, got suspicious. 

“There don’t seem to be any monsters around,” stated Darkness.

Kazuma snapped out of his boredom-induced stupor to notice the same thing. The lake, despite its significant uncleanliness, was devoid of alligators or anything of the like. Kazuma turned to Momon and Co, only to find them not even watching. Momon seemed to be writing something in a book while looking in a floating mirror, while Shalltear was trimming her nails. While they were visibly bored, at least they were doing _something_. He turned back to observe Aqua. Still nothing.

“Aqua, you see any monsters over there?” he called

He was still met with stony silence. 

“It is a bit odd that monsters haven’t shown up yet,” said Megumin thoughtfully. “It would be nice to finish this without having to fight them.”

Kazuma turned to her. “Shut up!” he cried. “You want to trigger a flag or something?”

“Kazuma!” cried Aqua. 

Kazuma flicked his gaze towards Aqua’s crate.

“Something’s coming!”

Kazuma could spot six, maybe seven large purple alligators swarming Aqua’s cage.

“A LOT of somethings are coming!”

Suddenly, the beasts practically lunged onto the crate. Kazuma was tempted to run to the rescue, but stopped when he heard her chant “Purification!” over and over. Needless to say, he decided to let her deal with this one. He flicked his gaze over to Momon and Shalltear, who looked to be preparing for combat, and he held up his hand. Momon seemed to understand as he nodded and returned to his book and mirror. Kazuma turned back to see the spot around Aqua already looking clearer. Yeah, this lake would be purified in no time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seven hours of terror induced purification later, and the lake was completely clean. However, Kazuma soon learned that Aqua became catatonic following the experience and refused to leave the cage. Even after stating that she could take the entire reward (which pissed off Shalltear for all of five seconds before Momon reeled her in), she still refused to leave the cage. Out of options, they decided to head back to town. Momon, being the chivalrous knight he was, escorted them back to Axel while keeping an eye on Aqua. She barely spoke the entire trip back, and even when entering the town she refused to speak. Kazuma and his party squirmed under the scrutinizing gaze of the townsfolk, no doubt judging them for keeping a _girl_ in a _cage_ . To make matters worse, of _course_ the stupid goddess had to start singing the saddest song she could think of. Now her toxic mood was spreading towards the rest of the party, and it was only a matter of time before it attracted the wrong type of attention.

“M’LADYYYYY!!!!!”

Kazuma and his party jumped at the sudden outburst, and turned to see a fully armored young man toting the biggest damn sword Kazuma had ever seen barreling towards their cage at full speed. As the party stopped to witness this, they saw him get to the bars and begin to pry them apart.

“M’lady,” he cried. “I’ll get you out of there!”

Before Kazuma could tell him to stop, Momon stepped beside him and forcefully grabbed his arm. Startled, the guy turned to stare up at the armored Adventurer.

“I recommend you not do that,” Momon said intimidatingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. Aqua ain't doing too good, and it doesn't look like she'll be getting better. We finally have a World Item under Ainz's belt, and Kazuma is starting to become more curious about Ainz and Shalltear. Anyway, next is Overlord. Let's see how Ainz fares against one the Heaven's more powerful reincarnates.


	15. Cobalt and Ebony

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. College finals were a pain, but I now should more time on my hands! Anyway, without further ado, let's get on with the chapter!

Ainz, truth be told, didn’t know what he had been doing. He had seen the massive aura emanating from the armored man, and mixed with his sudden attempt at prying open the bars of Aqua's cell resulted in his impromptu action.

“I recommend you not do that,” he had said, leaving the man shocked. In truth, Ainz was eyeing him, judging his reaction. 

Needless to say, having a seven foot tall warrior in pitch black armor staring down at you while telling you to stop doing something tends to make you stop in your tracks. Ainz could detect a faint scent of ammonia in the air.

Then, seeming to gather his wits about him, the blue-armored warrior wrenched himself away from Ainz’s grip. 

Ainz stood there, shocked for a moment, before he noticed the blue warrior draw his sword.

His _magic_ sword, Ainz quickly noted. Even without detection magic, he noticed the strong magical aura coming from it.

“I will not let some _thugs_ contain m’lady!” exclaimed the virtuous teenager.

“How _DARE_ you!?!” exclaimed Shalltear, leaping at the warrior.

The blue-armored knight drew his sword, causing it’s blade to glow blue.

“Shalltear!” cried Ainz, panic in his voice, but it was too late. She was in the air, soaring towards her target.

Panicking, Ainz cast **[Greater Magic Shield]** just as the blue knight swung. The spectral blue wall appeared just as the sword was about to hit Shalltear. The sword hit it, shattering the shield with a gong-like sound and releasing a shockwave behind him. The stones ingrained into the road tore up, scattering and barraging the people behind him. The horses attached to Aqua’s cart bolted and ran, the force of the shockwave causing cart, cage, and Archpriest to spiral to the ground. Kazuma and his party were actively propelled backwards, and all the spectators around them fell backwards at the sheer force of the move. Shalltear was propelled mid-jump backwards into the awaiting arms of Ainz, who had reached for her. He deftly caught her and gently laid her down. As for the blue warrior, the shear force of his sword hitting the shield sent him flying, his sword out of his hand. As he clattered to the ground close to the cage, his sword inches from him, Ainz straightened himself and glanced caringly at the now-sheepish Shalltear.

“Do not engage an enemy we know nothing about,” said Ainz both sternly and gently.

Shalltear only nodded.

Ainz turned back towards the sprawling knight. 

“I do hope you learn your lesson next time,” stated Ainz sternly.

As the blue knight tried to recompose himself, Ainz took the time to pick up his sword.

“ **[Appraise Magical Item]** ,” stated Ainz. Suddenly, the sword started to heat and shake. Ainz’s non-existent eyes widened before it suddenly cooled again. Suddenly, the stat sheet for the sword popped up.

Ainz’s eyes widened. 

“The Divine Sword Gram,” stated Ainz. “Imbues the user with increased strength and speed.”

The blue knight stood up, but froze as the black warrior held his sword appraisingly.

“A Divine Class item,” continued Ainz. “When charged with a specific magical signature, it imbues itself with divine energy.”

Ainz winced. This weapon might be able to actually kill him. “Where did you acquire this?” he asked.

“That’s Kyouya’s sword!” exclaimed a girl to Ainz’s left. He turned to see two young girls in _ridiculously_ skimpy outfits give him a disapproving glare.

Ainz would have blinked if he could. 

“Who is Kyouya?” he asked.

The two girls gasped.

“I am Kyouya,” stated the blue knight, drawing Ainz’s attention back to him. “Kyouya Mitsurugi.”

Ainz stared at him, then at the sword. “An impressive blade, I must say,” stated Ainz simply.

Mitsurugi stared piercingly at Ainz. “It’s the magical sword Gram,” he stated. “Given to me by the goddess Aqua.”

Ainz stared questioningly at him.

“And it can only be wielded by me,” he stated.

Ainz stared at him, then at the sword. Then he chuckled. 

“Is that so?” he said amusingly. 

Motsurugi looked at him questioningly.

Ainz stared at him with an amused glint as he swiftly channeled his mana into the blade. Suddenly, the blade glowed a bright cobalt. 

Mitsurugi paled, as did the two girls.

Ainz chuckled as he let the blade die down, then swiftly tossed the blade in the air and caught it in the blade.

“I recommend you be more careful with a blade like this,” he said as he approached the blue adventurer. He handed Mitsurugi the blade hilt first. “You could hurt someone.”

Mitsurugi stared at him, dumbfounded, before regaining his sense. He grabbed the hilt and thrusted toward Ainz accusingly.

“Despite the fact you can wield Gram,” said Mitsurugi stated gallantly. “I refuse to let you imprison a goddess!”

None of what Mitsurugi just said registered with Ainz. 

“Pardon?” he asked.

“You heard me!” Mitsurugi responded.

Ainz took a second to think of a response. “There are many things I don’t quite understand,” he stated. “What ‘goddess’ are you speaking of?”

Mitsurugi looked flabbergasted. He pointed at the prone Aqua, who was now lying in a ball on the scattered tiles. “Her!” he cried exasperatingly.

Ainz looked at the prone Aqua, then at the cobalt knight, then Aqua, then the knight.

He stared at him for a moment, before bursting out laughing. It only lasted a moment before his emotional inhibitor kicked in, but it was enough for Mitsurugi to become royally ticked off.

Faster than the others could see, he charged at Ainz, his sword gleaming in the light, it’s blade arcing towards the Ebony-clad adventurer.

“ **[** **Body of Effulgent Beryl]** ,” said Ainz. Just as the swing of Gram was about to hit Ainz, he shimmered and moved just out of line of the blade. Mitsurugi paused for a second, but it was long enough for Ainz to grab his head.

“ **[Paralyse]** ,” said Ainz. A dark mist erupted from Ainz’s arm and coated himself around the blue adventurer. Everyone stared in shock as Mitsurugi, the Holy Knight charged with defending the kingdom, collapsed onto the cobbles. 

Ainz shook his head amusingly. “The spell will wear off in a few hours,” said Ainz. “Consider it a mercy I don’t kill you for what you’ve done here today.”

With that, Ainz, with Shalltear following him, made his way through the crowd towards the Adventurer’s Guild.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. Mitsurugi just got his ass handed to him. Will he stick around Axel knowing that the Ebony-clad adventurer is sticking around? Anyway, next is Konosuba. These next few chapters will most likely no longer be one anime per chapter. In fact, the chapter after the next one will undoubtedly feature both. That being said, there may be another contender entering the fray soon. ;)


	16. Of Mice and Men

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. This has been LONG overdue. Sorry for the wait. Kind of got distracted with a lot of things at once. Anyway, this chapter is a long one. I also decided to do a test with the switching anime. So there's a bit of Overlord mixed with the Konosuba. Anyway, sorry for the wait, and enjoy!

“What is _wrong_ with you people!?!” shouted the enraged Dullahan. “Why do you keep bombarding my castle!?!”

It had been a long week for Kazuma. Since that Mit-mashi guy lost to Momon, he hasn’t been seen since. Apparently, he was some sort of “renown hero” that vanquished dragons all across the land with his “Sacred sword that only he could wield.” Kazuma had wanted to barf upon hearing that, and was almost thankful that Momon knocked his ego down a peg.

Almost.

Kazuma’s new worry was who the _heck_ was Momon to be able to even use that sword? Kazuma had asked Aqua (once she was recovered from the alligators) about it, and she confirmed: no one but that Mit-saki guy should have been able to wield it. And yet Momon used it flawlessly. No wonder the dude left Axel almost immediately. Now Kazuma’s curiosity was piqued. For the next few days, he had been trying to gather as much info on Momon as he could, but the guy was like a freaking ghost. He would disappear for hours every day, only to appear in the Guild for quests or other stuff. Not even Luna at the counter knows what he does in his free time. Kazuma had been really close to giving up on him.

And then the Dullahan appeared.

“We’re not blowing your place up anymore!” cried Kazuma. “We’re staying away like you said!”

The Dullahan almost growled. He was currently outside the walls of Axel. Once the announcement had been made, the entire Adventurers Guild had been summoned to the gates. He was slightly impressed with their initiative, but that did not outweigh his abject fury. “Oh, you are, are you?” came the retort. “What a bold faced lie!” He slammed his head to the ground in fury before quickly scrambling to grab it as it rebounded back up. Once grasped, he pointed at Megumin.

“That crimson maniac has been blowing up my castle every day for the past week!” he exclaimed.

Kazuma turned to Megumin beside him, who turned her head away from his gaze.

Kazuma’s eye twitched.

“You IDIOT!” he cried as he grabbed her cheeks.

“Wait!” she cried as Kazuma started tugging at her cheeks. “I can explain!”

Kazuma shook with fatigue and rage. “No!” he cried. “I don’t want to even hear your explanation!” He clenched his fists in rage before he realized something. “Wait, you can’t move after you cast your spell! You can’t get back unless someone carries you…” Kazuma stops mid-sentence as he turns to the blue-haired goddess beside him. He stares at her for a minute before realizing the state she had been in. There was no way that in her depressed state she would consent to that. That only left…

_Darkness_

Before he could shout her name however, he felt a very cold aura wash over him. He turned back to face the Dullahan.

“I am Verdia,” stated the Dullahan. “And you will hear me out!”

Kazuma’s rage dissipated, making way for the pure fear as the Dullahan lifted his head high over the crowd outside Axel.

“Your fiery taunts offend me,” he continued. “But there is _something else_!” He spat the last words with venomous disgust. “None of you have come seeking retribution for your ally’s death!” he exclaimed.

Kazuma could practically _feel_ the fury coming off the undead in waves.

“In life, I strove to be an upstanding knight,” the Dullahan continued with rising fury. “In my opinion, _that crusader was an ideal knight_.” The fury was now evident in his tone, combined with his left eye now glowing a sinister red. “She used her body to shield an ally from my death curse, AND TO ABANDON HER IS…”

His voice and fury died in his throat as suddenly, the crowd dispersed to reveal Darkness walking towards the front line, her cheeks blushing as she made her way. 

“Gosh,” she said awkwardly at the Dullahan. “I’m… ideal?” She smiled warmly. “I’m flattered you think so.”

The Dullahan blinked in confusion. “Wait.” he said, befuddled. “You’re _alive_!?!”

He stood in shock for a moment. “How!?!”

“Perhaps,” piped up Momon, who stepped forward. “You should ask the Archpriest she is comrades with?”

“Archpriest!?!” the Dullahan almost laughed. “No mere Archpriest could possibly dispel such a powerful curse!”

‘Is that so?” came the unusually determined voice of Aqua. Kazuma turned to see Aqua looking at the Dullahan with determined scorn. “We’ll see what this ‘mere Archpriest’ can really do!”

The Dullahan turned to her. “Do you honestly think the magic of a _novice_ could…”

“Turn Undead!” cried Aqua, outstretching a glowing hand. Suddenly, a ball of golden particles erupted from her hand and clung itself to the Dullahan. As it made contact with the Dullahan, he screamed in absolute pain. Kazuma was too entranced to notice Momon visibly taking a step back from the blast.

For a moment, the Dullahan froze there as his headless steed dissipated. As the spell wore off however, he proceeded to drop to the ground and rolled, as if to further dispel the holy energies into the ground. Kazuma couldn’t see much over the dust cloud that had settled, but he could tell how effective the spell had been.

“Nice,” he said to Aqua, impressed. However, his praise was short lived as the Dullahan made an audible gasp of pain before standing.

Aqua paled. “That didn’t do anything!?!”

“You there,” sputtered Verdia. “Are you not a novice?” Fear crept into his voice. “I thought only low-leveled adventurers lived here.”

Verdia composed himself before continuing. “No matter,” he stated. “My minions always fight the rabble for me.” With that, the general waved his left hand over the ground. A dark aura suddenly erupted from his feet and penetrated from the ground. From the ground erupted numerous zombies, each adorned with armor and weapons.

“Go forth, my undead knights!” cried Verdia. “And show this lot a glimpse of hell!”

Suddenly, Momon drew his sword and stabbed it into the ground. From its point of impact, massive cracks erupted from the ground, causing all of Verdia’s zombies to fall into their depths. As Momon removed his sword, the cracks disappeared as suddenly as they had appeared. Verdia visibly recoiled. 

“Wha…” was all he said, at a loss for words.

“A true knight does not let his subordinates deal with a threat he is too cowardly to deal with himself,” stated Momon simply.

Suddenly, Verdia’s fury came back ten-fold. “You _dare_ disgrace my status as a knight?”

Momon seemed to glare tauntingly at him. “Those deserving to call themselves one should uphold their virtues.”

Verdia took a moment to process this. Then he laughed. A large, belly-aching laugh. “I did not think my underlings could be defeated so easily,” he said, amusement replacing his previous fury. “Alright, my turn.”

A sword appeared in Verdia’s right hand, his head ducked under his elbow. “I shall attend to each one of you,” he stated. “ _Personally_.”

For a moment there was silence. Then…

“Don’t panic, everyone,” cried one of the adventurers. “The town’s number-one guy is one it!”

Another guy turned to Momon. “Don’t worry, sir! We’ll back you up!”

Momon stared for a second. “I doubt I can do this alone,” he said quickly.

The adventurers grinned. “Then let’s beat this guy until he’s nothin’ but sludge!” cried a third one. With that, the warrior adventurers of Axel charged past Kazuma’s party and Momon’s towards the Dullahan.

“You shall be the first to die,” said the General. With that, he tossed his head into the air. As if in slow motion, the head froze in the air. Suddenly, a large fiery eye appeared behind it in the air. 

“Wait, guys!” cried Kazuma. “Get back!”

It was too late. At each of their blows, the Dullahan dodged them, weaving to and fro between their moves with deceptive grace. Suddenly, he seemed to flow with his blade. The five adventurers that attacked him suddenly froze. Then, in macabre unison, they each fell to the ground, dead. As the eye disappeared, the Dullahan caught his head with practiced ease.

“What was it you said?” the Dullahan said tauntingly to Momon. “‘A true knight does not let his subordinates deal with a threat he is too cowardly to deal with himself?”

Momon said nothing, his stance remarkably still.

“Who’s next?” said Verdia.

The gathered adventurers all murmured in fear. 

Then, Momon seemed to sigh as he drew his other sword from his back. A sword in each hand, he faced Verdia. “I do hope you intend to surrender after this,” he said menacingly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today was not Ainz’s day. He knew the Kazuma boy had been trying to dredge up information, but because of the unique power he had Ainz didn’t want to kill him.

Yet.

Then, the Dullahan appeared, and Ainz had seriously wanted to take him back to Nazerick for experiments. It was unlike any undead he had ever seen, in or out of Yggdrasil. However, its behavior…

It disgusted him.

Claiming to be a knight, hiding behind it’s guards. Ainz was a necromancer, an Overlord, and as such routinely hid behind an army of undead. He was no knight. The Dullahan reminded him too much of some twisted version of Touch Me, like if his old friend was reanimated fully sentient for some evil purpose. It angered him, or it would have had the emotion inhibitor not kicked in. That was the thing that intrigued him. The Dullahan General had emotions. It felt rage, shock, anxiety, fear. It seemed to feel pride and arrogance as well. It was _feeling_ , and Ainz so badly wanted to take it for himself. However, now he was at an impasse. It had challenged him. True, it had challenged Momon, not Ainz, but by his own logic he could not forgo the challenge. It was a shame he had told Shalltear to stay behind in the town, or he would have had her...

No. The Dullahan’s point was that Ainz was dishonorable, and despite the fact that Ainz and the undead had different ideas of “honor,” he would not let the general soil the name of Ainz Ooal Gown as such.

“I hope you intend to surrender after this?” Ainz said menacingly, his two greatswords drawn. He noticed Verdia eyeing them, most likely to appraise their condition. Ainz took this moment to appraise Verdia’s own weapon. A simple greatsword, although slightly longer than his own, colored similar to glass. 

The Dullahan laughed. “What makes you think I would surrender to you?” he asked.

Ainz returned with his own laugh. “Because all eventually do.”

Verdia recoiled at that.

Suddenly, Ainz bent forward, arching his back in a cat-like way. A planted his right foot next to his chest, his left foot further back. He forced his left arm back as well, his greatsword stretching outward, while his right arm was planted far in front of him. He leaned his body so that it was parallel to the ground, and forced his head to look straight up at Verdia. To everyone around, the pose was extremely surprising. They had seen no one move with such flexibility or fluidity. Verdia himself was fighting between confusion and amusement. Ainz silently thanked Clementine in response to the stares.

Suddenly, Ainz seemed to blur. Faster than anyone had ever seen, he flew towards Verdia, right sword heading straight for the Dullahan’s chest, left sword arcing for anything around it. The general’s amusement changed to shock at the speed of his adversary, and he barely managed to dodge the first blade only for the second to collide with his own. Ainz, not wasting precious time, folded and arced around himself onto the Dullahan. Now afraid, the Dullahan tossed his head in the air. Unable to react in time, the crimson eye from before erupted into the sky. Surging with newfound confidence, Verdia now managed to dodge the next of Ainz’s attacks. Thinking quickly, Ainz changed his stance. He stood upright and jumped, focusing on a downward swing. This time, Verdia was taken aback, and attempted to block the oncoming strike. With a resounding clang, Ainz’s right sword shattered, it’s shards plunging themselves into the two warrior’s armor. Ainz hesitated in shock, only for Verdia to swing his own sword towards Ainz’s torso.

“ **[Body of Effulgent Beryl]** ” said Ainz. As the sword was about to collide, Ainz seemed to blink out of its path. As it swung into air, Ainz quickly unsheathed one of the two stilettos at his side. Seeing the action, Verdia, with greater speed than he demonstrated before, swerved and swung his blade to counter the sheath. Ainz, in a moment of calculated desperation, swung his body into the path of the blade. The blade clanged against the armor, but unlike Ainz's shattered greatsword, neither cracked. Verdia paused, shocked. Ainz took this moment to look towards the gathering adventurers.

“Kazuma!” he cried. The green-cloaked adventurers perked up at the calling of his name. “Create some water!” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To say Kazuma was amazed at the spectacle before him was an understatement. He felt like he was watching two titans duke it out. Momon going toe-to-toe with the Dullahan was beyond cool to him, but it freaked him out a bit too. Not because of how the Dullahan managed to shatter one of Momon’s swords, nor how Momon managed to block the blade with his armor. 

No.

It was because Momon was _holding back_. 

He had seen the guy single handedly kill a dragon with a _word_. The guy was renowned throughout the city as the adventurer you needed to get shit done. He was like a god, and would have believed it if not for Aqua’s insistence that he wasn’t. And yet…

He seemed to be losing to Verdia. Big time. Kazuma tore his gaze away to look at Aqua. She seemed so fearful of Momon for some reason, and it always baffled him as to why. Well, Momon was powerful. That couldn’t be denied. Heck, that Shalltear chick he was always with managed to kill five toads with her _fingernails_. And yet, he always sensed that this fear was something else. He always felt like Aqua was hiding something about Momon that he couldn’t quite place.

“Kazuma!” cried Momon, jerking Kazuma out of his thoughts. “Create some water!”

Kazuma blinked. He needed Kazuma to do _what?_

Not questioning it, Kazuma stretched out his hand and said, “Create Water!” A jet of water shot out of his hand toward the two fighters. The Dullahan, seeing the jet, disengaged as it splashed onto the ground, creating a sizable puddle. Momon, seeing the puddle, proceeded to stab his stiletto into the ground. Lightening erupted from the ground, trailing into the water towards the two warriors. Both warriors froze as electric current flew into them, before Momon managed to extract the stiletto. As the current seemed to fade, Momon fell to a knee. The Dullahan, however…

“I-i-impressive weaponry,” said Verdia, catching his head from the air. “To think I’d meet a knight as cunning as you.”

Momon said nothing, seemingly to regain his breath.

“But it is time to finish this,” said the general

 _Shit, shit, shit!_ Thought Kazuma. _This is bad. Very very bad. Think._

Kazuma took a moment to reassert his thoughts. _Think. Momon’s too close to this guy for Megumin to blow him up. Darkness can’t hit the broad side of a barn. Think!_

Kazuma breathed in and out, calming himself. _This guy’s a Dullahan. In RPGs, these guys have some kind of weakness. Did he do anything that stands out…_

He thought back, and suddenly, it hit him.

_Wait. A Dullahan is undead! And an undead’s weakness is…_

Kazuma’s eyes widened at his epiphany.

Suddenly, the Dullahan swung at the prone Momon. Faster than anyone could see, Momon blocked with his stiletto. Unlike his sword, the blade did not break. In fact, lightning arced from it into the sword. Verdia froze for a moment as electricity coursed into him.

“Create Water!” shouted Kazuma, stretching his hand towards the Dullahan. The Dullahan disengaged and dodged the jet again. He turned to Kazuma. 

“What are you trying to do, boy!?!” cried the Dullahan.

Kazuma ignored him, instead turning to the mage adventurers. “Hit him with water!” cried Kazuma.

“What are you doing!?!” 

This time, the voice was Momon’s. Kazuma looked at him, confused. Momon stared at him… _piercingly? Angrily?_

Before Kazuma could respond, a chorus of “Create Water” was heard behind him. Thousands of jets of water erupted from the mages, aiming directly at the Dullahan. 

Panicked, the Dullahan could only grunt as he dodged jet after jet of water.

“Stop this!” he cried, panic creeping into his voice. “Stop this at once!”

Soon, Kazuma joined in, his own jets adding to the wall of water. 

Verdia somehow managed to dodge jet after jet. Soon, Kazuma felt the fatigue that comes with mana deprivation. 

“Dammit,” he cried. “I can’t get a hit on him!”

Suddenly, he looked to Aqua, who was staring fearfully at Momon’s gaze.

“Aqua!” he cried. As her gaze was forced on him, he continued. “Water’s his weakness!”

At Aqua’s blank star, he continued. “Do you know _any_ water spells, or are you completely useless?”

Aqua blinked. “Of course I know water spells,” she said simply. “I can even summon a flood if I want to.”

Momon turned his gaze sharply to her.

“Conjure one! Conjure one!” cried Kazuma.

“Belay that!” cried Momon, panic _very_ evident in his voice. “ _Do not conjure a flood_!”

Aqua blinked at Momon’s statement. Then she smiled. A mischievous, evil grin.

She raised her right hand above her head. “ **I call upon all my followers in this world.** ” she chanted. “ **It is I. Your goddess, Aqua.** ”

Verdia was visibly afraid now. 

“ **Heed my request. Answer my prayer!** ” Aqua continued. “ **And show this world thy power.** ”

“Oh no,” muttered Verdia. With that, he attempted to scramble back into the woods, only for Darkness to rush him. While she couldn’t swing a sword to save her life, Darkness was good at using her body. She tackled him to the ground and held him there.

Verdia began to panic more. “Let go of me, you degenerate!” he cried.

“Your words hit like hammers,” she responded euphorically.

“ **Sacred Create Water!** ” cried Aqua, her voice echoing across the plains.

Suddenly, a massive pillar of water erupted from the sky.

“You got to be kidding me!” cried Verdia as the column shot from the sky towards him.

Kazuma could almost jump for joy as the pillar made its way towards its target.

And then everything froze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whelp. This is basically Episode 6 of the anime with Overlord thrown in. I tried to spice a few things up, but honestly there wasn't a lot I could change without the story going off the rails. Anyway, next is probably going to be a bit Overlord centric with a bit of Konosuba. Don't worry, guys. I'll try not to let that chapter take as long as this one (hopefully).


	17. The Sorcerer King

It was the first time in his new body that Ainz had ever reacted irrationally. The Dullahan reshaped all his definitions of undead. It felt emotions, it was able to summon minions while also having the melee skills of a level 60 warrior. His appraisal magic showed that the Dullahan was easily around level 60, far higher than any other creature in this world so far. Ainz needed to capture the creature at all costs.

That was why he panicked when Kazuma _disobe..._ refused to listen to him when he told him to cease with the water. Ainz had seen that the water would permanently lower the Dullahan’s level to around 10, ruining everything. Ainz was lucky the general was able to dodge all the blasts.

Until Aqua summoned a fucking tidal wave.

Ainz’s eyes would have bulged out of their sockets if he had any. There was no spell in YGGDRASIL that could summon that much water! Not to mention the fact the blue haired Archpriest did it so leisurely. As he watched the column spiral down towards the undead, Ainz made a _very_ drastic action.

“ **[Time Stop]** ,” he said, his voice unheard due to the large cacophony of waves spiralling downward towards the Dullahan.

All at once, the entire field was covered in a gray haze as everything froze in place. The water, the people, even the blowing grass was frozen. 

Ainz stood and rolled his shoulders. While the Dullahan’s blade was much too low level to actually hurt him, it was strong enough to cause him minor discomfort when bludgeoned against his armor. Ainz sheathed his stiletto and greatsword and made his way towards the now-frozen Dullahan. He stopped for a moment to survey the broken shards of his other Greatsword. 

“ **[Greater Repair Item]** ” spoke Ainz. All at once, the sword’s shards seem to float and reform into his greatsword. Once the sword was complete, Ainz sheathed it. Continuing forward, soon Ainz was in front of the frozen Dullahan. 

“ **[Temporal Nullification]** ,” said Ainz. Suddenly, the greyness coating Verdia faded. Suddenly, he ran full speed forward a few feet before stopping awkwardly. He shifted his body around, taking in the greyed out surroundings before him. 

“Now then,” said Ainz, attempting to call Verdia’s attention.

It worked. Verdia jerked his entire body around to meet Ainz’s gaze.

“We have much to discuss,” Ainz finished.

Verdia stared dumbfounded for a second before reasserting himself.

“What magic is this!?!” exclaimed Verdia.

Ainz chuckled. “I simply froze time with a spell, that is all.”

Verdia’s eyes squinted underneath his helmet. “Impossible,” he said, suspicion lacing his voice. “No mere mortal, much less a knight, can cast a spell of that caliber!”

Verdia’s eyes widened as he came to a frightening realization. “Only a god could create a spell of that magnitude.”

Ainz chucked again. “I believe it’s time to end this farce,” Ainz stated with finality.

Suddenly, a flash of light erupted from the ground and surrounded him. He was obscured for a moment for it dissipated to reveal his true form.

Verdia visibly recoiled. 

Ainz couldn’t blame him. His exquisite purple robes shone in the frozen sunlight, their golden borders gleaming brilliantly and exquisitely while contrasting with the purple ones closer to the torso. The shoulders of the robes seemed to be made from some monstrous beast’s bones, as the large bonelike plates jutted out from the sides, each caressing a large red orb in between the fractals. 

However, the robes dimmed in comparison to the creature that wore them. The monstrous Skeleton was unlike anything Verdia had ever seen. It’s eyes were red pin pricks in the unnaturally dark insides of its Skull. The skull itself seemed deformed in a sinister way, with its entire face elongated lengthwise, cheekbones jutting into its sides, and its chin pointed in a razorlike fashion. It’s eye holes also seemed to contort upwards into a sharpened appearance. A massive parting of its robes revealed the Overlord’s massive ribcage, with the ribs curving inward in a sickle-like fashion. Inside the ribcage hovered a small red orb, which radiated a power Verdia could scarcely comprehend. The Overlord’s monstrously large hands were adorned each with rings of varying quality, and Verdia could distinctly sense the magical nature of each.

Overall, if Verdia was told that Death personified stood before him, he would have believed it without a second thought. Nonetheless, Ainz’s very presence evoked a bone-deep fear in Verdia that had him quite literally quaking in his boots.

“You seem afraid,” stated Ainz. 

Verdia forced himself to answer. “W-w-would it be u-u-unreasonable to be?”

Ainz seemed to ponder this. “Undead don’t usually feel emotion,” Ainz stated. “The fact you do…”

Verdia looked confused. “Is it not through rage that they reanimate?” asked Verdia. He was quieted as Ainz refocused his gaze on him.

Ainz looked at him for a moment. “Is that so?” Ainz asked simply.

Verdia blinked. It should have been simple.

Suddenly, Ainz outstretched his hand. “ **[Death Knight]** ,” he said. Suddenly, a black mist erupted from his hand and manifested on the ground. Without a body, the mist hovered there for a second before expanding to encompass a tall space. Soon it formed what appeared to be a vaguely humanoid shape, before it dissipated, revealing…

Verdia once again recoiled at the sight of the monstrous undead. Unlike the Overlord before him, the [Death Knight] was visibly decrepit. It’s dark pink skin was stretched unnaturally thin over its bones, emphasizing its both gaunt and large figure. It was equipped with a rather large set of plated armor, and Verdia could scarcely believe how thick the plates were. To further emphasize the undead’s might, it weiled a monstrously large sword in its right hand and a huge plated shield on its left. 

Verdia stared in shock at the thing, scarcely believing what he was seeing. He had never seen an undead of this caliber or power in his life or unlife. And the being before him summoned it with such ease!

“You are dismissed, [Death Knight],” said Ainz, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture.

The [Death Knight] bowed before dissipating into the black mist. 

Verdia looked back at Ainz with newfound horror. “Who are you?” asked Verdia fearfully.

Ainz laughed. “I am the Master of the Great Tomb of Nazerick, leader of the 41 Supreme Beings,” stated Ainz ceremoniously. “I am Ainz Ooal Gown!”

Suddenly, Ainz felt a large surge of energy, followed by a sudden crack. He clutched his chest and quickly did an assessment.

 _Impossible_ , he thought. _Something almost broke my_ **_[Time Stop]_ ** _?_

Ainz quickly turned to see a blue-haired Archpriest fall to the ground, clutching her head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Ainz Ooal Gown_

Memories, tumbling, flowing in an ever-increasing avalanche.

_Ainz Ooal Gown_

Fears, smells, senses, all rushing backwards.

_Ainz Ooal Gown_

Screaming. Crying. All in the name of…

_Ainz Ooal Gown_

Aqua couldn’t take it. She had felt the magic. Dark mana flowing outward from the dark adventurer Momon. The unnatural magic commanding the world in ways _gods_ couldn’t, telling time itself to stop. She had felt it, her own nature screaming at her to stop it. She couldn’t. She didn’t have enough power to cancel the spell. Not that she could. Her mana screamed when it made contact with the dark mana. It took all her willpower not to faint, to lose consciousness. She turned. Kazuma, her party, the other mortals. All frozen. She turned again. The dark knight walked forward towards the frozen Dullahan, his panicked running from her pillar of water frozen in place. The dark knight muttered another phrase, and she felt the dark mana rush to his command. The weave of time flowed through Verdia again. 

Aqua wanted to cry. She couldn’t take this. She wanted to go to Kazuma, her safety blanket in this world, to tell him to fix it, but his frozen face stared straight ahead, unable to move forward within the passage of time. 

She heard them. Verdia’s fear, the knight’s chant, the…

Aqua felt more fear well up in her as the knight was no more, transformed into the most terrifying undead she had ever laid eyes upon. Gleaming with jewels, adorned with robes rivaling the gods themselves. 

Bearing a gaze full of such malicious power and undead hatred she could scarcely comprehend. 

“Who are you?” asked the Dullahan. She dreaded the name. Yes, name the thing she would be haunted by for the next few centuries. She would _love_ to have a name for it.

“I am Master of the Great Tomb of Nazerick…”

Where had Aqua heard that name before? Nazerick…

“...Leader of the 41 Supreme Beings…”

Aqua’s eyes widened. _41 Supreme Beings? That couldn’t mean…_

“I am Ainz…”

“...Ooal…”

 _Gown_.

Something inside her. She hadn’t felt anything like it before. Unfathomable. Indomitable. Unrelenting. Pure. Unfiltered.

**_FEAR_ **

Aqua could feel her very essence lash out. Her physical form distorted, her face becoming blank. Inside, however…

Her holy essence erupted outside of her, wishing to destroy the object of her **_FEAR_ ** with all the power at her disposal. She felt her pure mana lash out at the dark mana surrounding her, at the object of her **_FEAR_ ** . She saw him visibly recoil, but only just. She felt the mana give way, but only just. She felt her **_FEAR_ ** retreat into herself. She felt it constrict her heart in a way she had never felt before. Her form reformed, and she collapsed, her hands clenching her head, her hair disorganized. She felt herself sink, her **_FEAR_ ** unearthing memories she had long hoped to forget.

_A wasteland. That was what it could only be described as. Barren lands, devoid of life. Nothing moved, save for the occasional vulture swooping in to pick clean the corpses. Aqua looked onward. She saw nothing, looked at nothing. She was simply there to look pretty. To play the party of the noble goddess, helping the hero._

_“The Demon King of Ruin is subdued,” came a voice. It was rough, as if the vocal cords were not meant to speak. Nonetheless, it spoke with no hint of ignorance for the language. Not even an accent._

_“I thank you, Lords.” came another voice. This one Aqua knew too well. The voice of the Hero. the virtuous hero who led the armies of man against the Demon King of Ruin. She hadn’t bothered to remember his name, and she probably wouldn’t for years to come._

_“The_ **_[Burden of Atlas]_ ** _will make sure that he can never escape our grasp again,” came a third voice. This one seemed to speak in three different voices, all female but different pitches._

_“That leaves one final arrangement we must see to,” spoke the first voice._

_“Of course,” said the Hero. “the_ **_[Scourge of Blood and Tithe]_ ** _.”_

_Aqua turned at the name. She glanced up at the figures._

_“That is correct,” spoke the first voice. It’s owner was not human. Indeed, Aqua couldn’t quite name what it was. It was vaguely humanoid, but its head was replaced by that of a white bird, long locks of black hair flowing freely down it’s white-feather back. It’s torso and arms each were covered in white feathers, with hawk-like talon on its hands and feet. It sported a huge pair of wings on its back, its feathers alternating between brown and white. It’s beak was razor sharp, and its eyes seemed to display an unnatural amount of cunning and lust. It towered over Aqua and the Hero, it’s height well over seven feet tall. Beside it sat the owner of the third voice. Unlike it’s compatriot, the being seemed to be nothing more than an enormous orange slime. It equaled in height the bird-creature beside it, but seemed to radiate an aura of motherly kindness._

_"What do you plan on doing now that the Demon King is defeated?” the hero asked._

_“We retreat,” responded the Beast King of Ruin._

_“Our power poses too much of a threat to this world,” added the Monster Queen of Ruin._

_The Hero nodded, then proceeded to bow, shocking both Aqua and the Lords of Ruin._

_“By my honor as the Hero of Belzerg, I thank the Beast King of Ruin and the Monster Queen of ruin in their aid in the defeat of the Demon King of Ruin.”_

_With that, the Hero handed the_ **_[Scourge of Blood and Tithe]_ ** _to the Beast King._

_The Beast King nodded, then unfurled his wings. The Monster Queen quickly transformed into a mouse and jumped onto his shoulder. He turned around, preparing to take off, before turning to Aqua._

_“There is one more thing I must tell you,” he said. Aqua turned her head to him, her body quaking in subtle fear._

_“There is one name that all us Lords of Ruin respond to…”_

_Aqua mentally embedded the name into her mind the moment it was uttered._

_“...the name of Ainz Ooal Gown.”_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aqua came out of her flashback to find tears staining the ground. She felt a large skeletal hand rub the top of her arm soothingly.

_Soothingly?_

Suddenly, her fear redoubled. She raised her head to meet the gaunt face of…

_No_

She recoiled backwards out of his grasp, doing everything in her power to get away from him. Time was still frozen, however, and it wasn’t long before she backed herself into the group of adventurers that had now become a wall.

The skeleton…

_No_

He stood at his full height.

“There is no need to be afraid, Aqua,” he stated

Aqua didn’t know what was worse. The fact that the voice was still the same silky-smooth voice of Momon, or that the thing had uttered her name at all.

The skeleton…

_NO_

He moved forward, only for her to outstretch her hand. 

He stopped.

“Back away!” Aqua cried fearfully

“I don’t think I quite understand,” spoke the skeleton.

“You… your kind destroyed everything!” cried Aqua. 

The being…

**_NO_ **

He looked confused.

“What do you mean ‘My Kind.’”

Aqua looked at him with refreshed terror. “The Lords of Ruin will never have dominion!” shouted Aqua. “Not from the Demon King of Ruin, nor…”

**_NO_ **

“... Ainz Ooal Gown, the Undead King of Ruin!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aqua is really dealing with some stuff. Also, yes! We got some more lore dumps. We'll see what happens next chapter! I'll be breaking the normal tradition of having one anime per chapter, since I won't be having a lot to write about for certain anime. Next chapter will be a continuation of this one.


	18. The Gilded War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I begin, it has been brought to my attention that there were numerous spelling errors in my fanfic. I have gone back and fixed them, but this has made me realize that they should have been caught earlier. Therefore, I am opening up an offer for a beta reader. I'd prefer to have contact over discord, and they are simply there to aid me in spelling and formatting errors. Comment down below with your discord tag if you are interested. On to the chapter!

The moment he saw Aqua collapse he had removed the  **[Temporal Nullification]** on Verdia, refreezing him. Then, Ainz quickly moved forward. He had assumed Aqua wasn’t human, and this confirmed it. Not only was she not affected by  **[Time Stop]** , she almost nullified it altogether. He would need to notify the Floor Guardians of this discovery once he returned to Nazerick. As for Aqua…

Things spiralled out of control  _ very  _ quickly.

“Not from the Demon King of Ruin, nor Ainz Ooal Gown, the Undead King of Ruin!” she had cried.

Ainz froze at the words.  _ Impossible. Could it be? _

She had named him as not  _ the _ king of Ruin, but  _ a _ king of Ruin? Ainz had thought up of many titles that others gave him. The Black Knight, the Ebony Warrior, but all of them were specific to him. The fact that Aqua had named more…

“Undead King of Ruin?” Ainz said questioningly.

Aqua stared at him defiantly, her eyes betraying determined fear.

“So that means there are more?” Ainz concluded.

Aqua’s eyes widened.  _ He didn’t know!?! _

Ainz’s mind was working at lightspeed however, his thoughts racing. The shock, the discovery, the fact there could be…

_ There could be more Yggdrasil players here _ .

Ainz was almost giddy with excitement. He would’ve jumped for joy had his emotions not been dampened.

“Tell me about these other… ‘Kings of Ruin,’” commanded Ainz.

Aqua’s gaze hardened. “Sacred Turn Undead!” she cried. 

Ainz barely had time to react before a cascade of light erupted around him. For a second Ainz prepared for the worst, and as the holy magic washed over him, he steeled himself as the immense pain coursed through his entire body. However, as the light dissipated, he found that he had sustained minimal damage.

Ainz would have blinked in confusion if he could’ve. Aqua actually did. Then, Aqua’s expression morphed into one of pure horror as she realized that Ainz had not only survived her spell, but had done so unscathed.

Ainz quickly checked Aqua’s magical signature, and was beyond shocked at what he saw.

Aqua’s power was practically nonexistent right now. The usual cascade of golden energy that swirled inside her aura was gone, leaving her aura practically devoid of mana.

Ainz was beyond intrigued.

“You’re weakened,” he stated simply.

Aqua paled. “I-i-i’m a Goddess!” she stuttered, her voice trying and failing to exude confidence. “I can’t be weakened!”

“And yet a spell that could’ve severely hurt me did nothing but tickle,” lied Ainz. In truth it had hurt immensely due to it being pure holy magic, but she didn’t know that.

Aqua took that bait however. Her complexion paled even more, and Ainz noticed her starting to shake in growing fear.

Ainz sighed. This was not how he had wanted this conversation to go. He reoriented himself and continued.

“Aqua, I’m not going to hurt you,” Ainz stated, flicking bits of sympathy into his tone. “I just want answers.”

Aqua seemed to calm down a bit, but fear was still evident in her eyes. Nonetheless, Ainz repeated his question.

“What is a Lord of Ruin?” he asked.

Aqua looked at him, her eyes meeting his, and somehow, she felt… not cold hatred, but a warm compassion coming from those red pinpricks. She collapsed onto the time-frozen ground, her head staring dejectedly at the ground.

“The Lords of Ruin were godlike beings that came to this world 2000 years ago,” Aqua said woodily.

Ainz nodded quietly, mentally thumbing that information.

“Where are they now?” he asked.

Aqua squirmed. “Gone,” she said quietly.

Ainz hid his disappointment.

“Disappeared at the end of the Gilded War,” Aqua added.

Ainz perked up. “Can you tell me about this “Gilded War?” he asked.

Aqua started shivering again, and proceeded to clasp her shoulders in a fearful gesture. She closed her eyes tight.

Ainz quietly walked over and sat beside her, his large hands resting upon her shoulders in a fatherly gesture. He had done similar things to Aura and Mare when they were distressed, and had become well practiced at it.

“ **[See through]** ,” he said, casting the spell. He focused the spell onto her being, attempting to read her emotional state. 

Aqua flinched and stood up hurriedly, her eyes darting to him like a caged animal.

“Don’t do that!” she cried, her voice flicked with pain and fear.

Ainz tilted his head, puzzled, as he stood.

“I was only assessing your mental state,” he said carefully.

“Your mana…” Aqua shivered, her entire body wracking with freight.

This puzzled Ainz more. “What is wrong with my mana?” he asked.

“It’s dark,” she stated. “It bends the world at wrong angles, in ways that shouldn’t be possible.”

Azin waited for more, but she said nothing.

“My apologies,” Ainz bowed. “I didn’t know.”

Aqua looked at him with fearful apprehension.

Ainz sat back down on the ground and patted the place next to him. 

Aqua hesitantly walked over and sat down next to him, her shaking never ceasing. However, she stated in a calm and clear voice, “You want to know about the Gilded War?”

Ainz nodded. 

Aqua seemed to straighten as she began to tell her tale.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Thousands of years ago, the gods converged on this world to find nothing but war and strife. Humans fighting humans with sticks and stones, catering to their own need for violence. While this wasn’t the first world we had changed with our influence, there was a certain radiance to it. An odd childlike innocence to it that seemed to radiate off of it like light to a star. We wanted to see a world like it prosper and grow, to shape and mold it into the ideal template for more worlds like it.”

“We had worked tirelessly, thousands of gods, thousands of deities, all to give these humans peace and purpose. Once they had it, we turned them to worship, granting them boons in exchange for devotion. Matters like that were standard, of course, as our power was derived from the worship of humans. Countless deities and gods were born from the world, given life by the love of the people. Governments of caring and compassion were formed, devoted to one god or the next, gifting the blessings of their gods to the people that served and worshiped them.”

Aqua’s eyes twinkled as she continued to travel down the pleasant memories.

“It seemed like the world was the true paradise it was meant to be.”

Aqua’s demeanor darkened.

“Until the Cleaving happened.”

“At first, us Gods were surprised. We thought it was a disturbance with ourselves at first, and looked to heaven for the disturbance, but we found nothing. By the time we turned our gaze back to the world, the disturbance was gone, with no trace it had ever existed.”

Aqua’s gaze hardened. “In our hubris, we never decided to check the tapestry. The fabric of the world that we modified to accommodate our divine presence. We should have.”

“It would have led to their discovery sooner.”

“We called them the Lords of Ruin. We wouldn’t call them gods out of stubborn defiance, but to me, I think if we did we would have treated them more seriously. They assembled an army of monsters and started taking the villages. At first all three would be seen, their weapons of unspeakable power lighting the sky, but soon, only the Demon King of Ruin was visible.”

Aqua started shivering again. “We received multiple prayers for dealing with them, but no matter how many blessings we gave, their power couldn’t be matched. No warrior, no priest, not even a prophet could take them down.”

Aqua looked up at Ainz with both unnatural fear and guttural dread. “More holy blood was spilt in this world than any other in our entire history.”

She turned to look at the ground.

“Soon, we realized that in order to destroy the Lords of Ruin, we would need to go down to the mortal realm.  _ In person _ . We…”

Aqua put her head in her hands as tears started to well up. Ainz put a gentle hand on her shoulder, but it didn’t seem to comfort her. He heard the tiny sobs of the goddess muffled by her palms. Through sniffles, she turned to him, eyes bloodshot, with both an accusing and depressed glare.

“Countless gods died in that battle against him!” she cried. “The Demon King of Ruin  _ slaughtered _ us! Rended our Holy essences to particles and scattered them to the stars!”

Her voice rose in pent up sadness and fury. “Friends, Family, all destroyed by that demon! I lost them all, I lost him, my…!”

She couldn’t hold back anymore. The tears started to flow as she collapsed, her sobs raking and broken. Ainz took a careful hand and proceeded to pat her head gently. 

_ She lost someone she cared for, her comrades _ , thought Ainz. He empathized with her, felt her pain. To realize he had someone he could share that pain with soothed him in a way nothing ever could.

“How did it end?” he asked gently.

Aqua wiped her tears from her eyes and snot from her nose.

“The others appeared.” she continued. “The Beast King and Monster Queen appeared, requesting that they aid in the defeat against the Demon King.”

“I wish I could say they weren’t needed, but without them we couldn’t have beaten him. It was a long battle, but one that was settled without another drop of god-blood spilt.”

Aqua paused, before looking at Ainz piercingly.

“Before they left, they told me something. Something to look out for.”

Ainz stared quizzically at her.

“I remember this clearly, because I never let myself forget it,” she said. “They said, ‘There is one name that all us Lords of Ruin respond to. The name of Ainz Ooal Gown.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Exposition! Aqua and Ainz finally get to talk about what the hell happened that makes her so afraid of Ainz! Anyway, next chapter will close all this off, as well as maybe add a new contender to the ring. ;)


	19. Ezekiel 25:17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta Reader has been found! Thank you guys for the offers!

Ainz had much to consider. Aqua’s story explained… much. It explained her negative reactions to his magic, as well as why she was immune to his **[Time Stop]**. A being claiming to be a goddess, made of mana born from this world, would have most likely suffered negative effects against his magic from YGGDRASIL. 

“Aqua,” he said after a moment.

She turned at his call.

“Do you know where these other ‘Lords of Ruin’ are?” he asked.

Aqua shook her head. “They left with no traces. Countless gods from other worlds tried to find them, but no luck.”

Ainz nodded, then placed his bone hand under his chin in thought. If they truly went into hiding, there would be no doubt that those gods couldn’t find them, especially if they came from YGGDRASIL.

“I do have one question, Mr. Ainz,” Aqua asked timidly.

Ainz turned to her expectantly.

“How did they know you were going to be the next one?” she asked.

Ainz would have blinked if he could. “I don’t quite understand.”

“They named you specifically. ‘Ainz Ooal Gown,’”' she stated as if it were obvious. “How did they know you were going to be next?”

Ainz realized the miscommunication.

“Ainz Ooal Gown is not my real name,” Ainz stated. “It is the name of our Guild.”

Aqua blinked. “Guild?”

Ainz sat back, reminiscing while explaining. “Yes. Ainz Ooal Gown was the name of our Guild. All 41 of us worked to make it prosper.”

Ainz would have smiled.

“We poured our hearts and souls into our Guild Base, the Great Tomb of Nazerick,” Ainz stated. “It was truly beautiful.”

Aqua looked at him curiously. “What’s a ‘Nazerick?’”

Ainz looked at her. “In the beginnings of our Guild, we conquered the Tomb and transformed it, creating countless monsters, multiple rooms and traps, as well as formidable guardians to protect it.”

Ainz almost sighed. “We each put our personal touches on those guardians, giving them each unique and specific touches.”

Ainz chuckled slightly to himself as he turned to her. “Shalltear is one such Guardian. Guardian of the first, second, and third floor of Nazerick.”

Ainz turned forward and stared up at the frozen sky in bliss.

Suddenly, he felt the slight pulsing of magical waves radiating outward from his left. He turned to see her face ashen white as she stared at him with newfound horror and fright.

Slowly, ever so slowly, she stood up and backed away from the Overlord.

“Sh-sh-shalltear is one of these fl-fl-Floor Guardians?” she asked, her voice quivering.

Ainz stood as well. “Yes, that is correct,” said Ainz, confused.

The waves rolling off Aqua seemed to pulse more frequently, and Ainz felt something inside him tug.

“Th-th-then that means this “Nazerick” is also here?” asked Aqua, backing away more quickly.

 _Oh. Oh dear._ Thought Ainz. _I said too much._

“Aqua…” Ainz said gently.

His lack of a denial was enough. 

Aqua started shaking. 

“S-s-so the b-b-base of the Lords of R-r-ruin…” said Aqua, barely containing her rising panic. “I-i-is here?”

Ainz said nothing.

His silence was all the confirmation Aqua needed.

Her expression, previously full of ungodly terror, suddenly went emotionless and blank. Ainz noted a slight static appearing at the edges of her body as a massive aura of energy started to form around her. Ainz quickly summoned the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, but it was too late. With a final fizzle of static, a massive shockwave of divine energy erupted from Aqua’s form.

Ainz braced himself by quickly casting **[Magic Ward: Holy]** , but the shockwave did more than barrage his person.

It destroyed his **[Time Stop]** spell.

Suddenly, time was moving again, the huge pillar of water rushing downwards towards the yelling Verdia. 

Using reflexes honed by countless PVP battles, Ainz both shouted and cast, “ **[Squall of Jotunheim]**.” A massive wave of Ice erupted from his hand and shot towards the impending pillar of water. As the wave made contact with the water, the ice rippled and froze the pillar, stopping it in its tracks. As the last drop of water was frozen, Ainz stepped back to admire his handiwork.

Right into the surprised crowd of adventurers.

Ainz took a second to realize the predicament he was in before quickly whirling on the adventurers.

For a moment there was pure silence as the group of adventurers came face-to-face with the skeleton that had just froze a literal tidal wave of ice.

A moment Ainz took to cast a silent **[Greater Teleportation]** on the shocked Dullahan that for a moment had been bewildered at being inches from a massive pillar of ice.

Suddenly, the crowd of Adventurers all prepped their skills.

Ainz slammed the bottom of his staff on the ground, creating a massive chasm in the ground, separating the adventurers from himself. 

He quickly cast **[Gate]** , setting it’s endpoint for Nazerick, before quickly sending a **[Message]** spell to Shalltear.

“Return to Nazerick at once,” Ainz conveyed as a fire spell made its way in his general direction.

“As you wish, lord,” Shalltear cried. Ainz quickly cut the communication as he made his way through the **[Gate]** spell. Once in front of Nazerick, he used his ring to go to his bedchambers. He had much to think about.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To say the Demon King was distressed at the news was beyond courtesy at that point. The Demon King in truth felt like he wanted to mimic an ostrich, in that he wanted to bury his head in the stone of the castle and hope that it would solve all his problems. Nonetheless, he was the Demon King, and as such, with the news that Verdia had been either taken or killed by an unknown assailant, the Demon King had a reputation to uphold.

“Any details on this ‘unknown enemy?” asked the Demon King tiredly.

The lesser demon before him quickly looked at his notes before continuing. “While the reports are varying, most can agree that the creature was a Skeleton of exquisite attire. As for its methods…”

The lesser demon paused, much to the chagrin of the Demon King and those present.

“Go on,” he said.

The lesser demon seemed to clear his throat. “It managed to stop a… divine verdict.”

The Demon King’s eyes widened. He flicked his gaze over to Vanir, who’s usually boisterous demeanor had been replaced with his more recent serious one. However, the Demon King noted a subtle cracking at the top of his head. 

That was more than enough to know the situation: Vanir was scared.

Throughout the entire time the Demon King has been alive, he has never heard of any being stopping a divine verdict. Considered the final will of Heaven, divine verdicts were not to be taken likely, and had so far not been used since the Gilded War. The fact that one had been warranted against Verdia, compounded with the fact it had been _stopped_ , caused the Demon King to go through such a rush of emotions. 

“Is that all?” the Demon King managed to choke out.

The lesser demon nodded. 

With a wave of the Demon King’s hand, the lesser demon was dismissed. He turned to Vanir.

“What do we have on our hands?” the Demon King asked abruptly.

Vanir turned to him but said nothing. He didn’t need to say anything. His silence was enough for the Demon King.

“The being in the woods has taken from me one of my generals,” stated the Demon King. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

Suddenly, the lesser demon barged into the meeting room. “My King, forgive my intrusion!” cried the lesser demon. 

The Demon King looked up. “What is it?”

“Two emissaries have entered the castle!” the demon cried.

The Devil King blinked. _Emissaries?_

“They have requested…” the demon got no further as a massive axe swung straight through it, causing it to disappear in a cloud of dust. The owner of the axe walked in, and the Devil King had to take a few seconds to compose himself.

The owner of the axe was very much a demon, but of what kind the Demon King could not name. She was a strikingly beautiful woman, with porcelain white skin, ample bosom, and a very well endowed chest. Her dress left very little to the imagination, it’s pure white cloth flowing around her torso, in front of her waist, and downward in a flowing, ruffled fashion. Two massive holes on the side of her waist revealed her wide hips and gracious thighs. The dress was held up by gold, spiderweb-like netting, the gaps showing her ample cleavage. Around her neck sat a thick gold and white choker to match her dress. Her face was pretty and viscous, her smile warm and soft, but her yellow, catlike eyes cold and cruel. Her amused smile seemed odd with her such a contemptuous gaze. Two curved horns jutted from each side of her head, their meeting points obscured by her long, flowing black hair. Two monstrously large wings flowed freely from behind her waist, moving two and fro with each rhythmic step. 

Following the woman was what the Devil King would imagine the lord of Hell would look like. Smooth and immaculate, the being’s pinstripe suit shone in striking reds and oranges, parting in a pure white dress shirt with a red tie. A long plated tail was trailing behind him, its end spiked with lethal-looking barbs. His face was elegant, with long and slender proportions. His black hair slicked back, his ears sharp, and his eyes of pure diamond hidden behind gilded bifocals. The being’s smile showed the jagged teeth of this terrifying creature.

“Who are you?” asked the Demon King incredulously.

“I am Demiurge, Guardian of the 7th Floor of the Great Tomb of Nazerick,” spoke the being.

“And I am Albedo, Overseer of the Guardians of the Great Tomb of Nazerick,” spoke the woman.

“And we are emissaries of the illustrious Ainz Ooal Gown,” they finished in unison.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To most individuals, the scene before them would have caused them to go into religious shock. Golden greek-style pillars reached skyward, their metallic sheen free from blemishes or imperfections. The floor itself was marble, inlaid with golden patterns. A copy of Michelangelo’s Painting in the Sistine Chapel hung above, also similarly unblemished. Despite the absence of light, the location was remarkably well lit, with small orbs of white light hovering and meandering, making sure no patch of darkness was evident.

The plants present in the garden were unique in their own right; numerous trees, each bearing succulent fruits of an unknown variety. Some were lopsided, pear shaped, while others were pure and round. All were golden, their metallic covering matching the pillars. The man tending to them looked old. Wizened beard, his body garbed in nothing but a toga, he carefully pruned over the trees and fruits, making sure each one was perfect. He came upon one fruit, however, that seemed to acquire a bit of a black spot. He furrowed his brow before proceeding to rub it off. It didn’t come off. He sighed and crushed it in his grip. As the juices dripped down his hand and evaporated, he sighed.

To say the man was tired would be an understatement. For the last few days, blemishes had been popping up around his fruits. It was always one at a time, but nonetheless it fatigued him to have to inspect each and every one. It left little time for him to work on his… project. 

He had seen to the matter of finding its source, sending his servants outwards through the myriad of worlds, and find something they did.

It had seemed another Lord of Ruin had appeared in that cursed world. The world of countless minor gods and goddesses. His contempt for those minor gods was immeasurable, but nonetheless the Lords of Ruin in the past had threatened to upend the world’s Tapestry.

That could not stand. 

However, he had let those gods handle their problems, and handle it they did, as the Lords of Ruin were defeated and drawn back to whatever hole they crawled from. 

Now, however…

The man looked towards his shelf, where numerous nutcrackers sat. Each pristine in condition, wearing the signature garb of the Royal Guard of the queen of England, and each sporting a massive black mustache. The man felt his lip curl despite himself.

He was loath to do this, but recent events had transpired that could not escape his notice.

The new Lord of Ruin, hereby decreed the Undead King of Ruin, had retroactively and successfully managed to undo a divine verdict.

That. Could. Not. Stand.

He focused his gaze on his project. As his eyes settled, he saw it. A girl with blond hair, magic arcing between shots of tiny metal beads in blinding fury. The man grimaced. He had been called many demeaning names, but the petulant child had insisted on the name Being X. It irked him to no end.

Nonetheless, desperate times call for desperate measures. If a being can undo a divine verdict, there would be no end of trouble. He would need to put his project on hold for a while. At least until this problem was resolved.

He couldn’t force her, though. Despite the fact the Eye of Wrath was doing its job, she still resisted it. He needed to coerce her into a cooperative state. Something that would…

Being X smiled as he began thinking of his next move...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A NEW CHALLENGER HAS ENTERED THE RING.


	20. Joshua 24:15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. College work, combined with the fact Tanya is deceptively hard to write made this chapter take longer than intended.

The day was supposed to be beautiful. A smooth 22 degrees Unified Centigrade, clear skies and a slight breeze blowing in. To the average person, it should have been a pleasurable day.

To the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion, however, you can’t exactly enjoy the weather conditions when you’re being _shot at_.

“God damn it!” cried the petite blond currently firing upon the swarming companies of mages. Despite the fact her petty infantry pistol should’ve barely even dented their shields, her magic alone was managing to pierce her opponents fragile barrier.

 _Of course that blasted Being X had to be behind this_ , thought the Devil of the Rhine. _Once this was over, I would’ve been able to get a stable position in the rear!_

“Push Forward!” ordered Major Tanya von Degurechaff. “Makes sure none crawl back to their command!”

Tanya inwardly cursed again as the heat of another burning mage blew up in her face. It was supposed to be a simple job, really. Reports had been sent to HQ stating that the Free Republic forces had been broken up and split to flank the incoming forces. As such, Strategic HQ had decided to isolate the individual companies by sending their own battalions to finish them off, making way for their main force to swallow the enemy’s HQ. Naturally, the plan went pear-shaped _very_ fast, with the rather quick discovery that the forces had instead consolidated in front of the HQ. Tanya had wanted to curse to Being X with every fiber of her god-forsaken being, but instead decided on a change: assume an attacking formation and fly straight into the storm of mages.

To any other battalion, it would have been suicide. To the 203rd, it was child’s play.

“These pathetic excuse for soldiers abandoned their fatherland!” cried Tanya. “Make sure the skies are bathed with their blood!”

Receiving, all members of the 203rd seemed to fill with renewed vigor. Shots range from all direction, the forces of the 203rd easily outmaneuvering the mages of the Free Republic. Mage explosions filled the air, each shot either downing or wounding the foreign mages. Each downed mage was accented by the booming sound of Imperial magical thrusters. With each mage, the 203rd pushed forward, their positions being marked closer and closer to the Free Republic HQ. 

As the amount of mages began thinning, Tanya soon began to hold her first wing back, letting the other three take the pickings. As the remaining mages were quickly eliminated, the other wings fell in line, each following the first in a V pattern until their commander held up her hand in a gesture to stop.

The enemy HQ was pathetic. A large conglomeration of tents and cannons, with the occasional ground soldier maning the stands. The few watchtowers around it were also few, leaving it almost too easy to cripple. It disgusted Tanya just by looking at it. To think this pathetic band of countrymen could stand against the might of the Empire. Nonetheless, they had the decency to spread themselves out, and Tanya knew that even if her entire battalion all fired at once, there would be a few lucky survivors in the blast.

 _Of course_ , Tanya laughed mentally. _Being X would want it to be like that_ . _Not even a smidge of regret at forcing me to pray to get this shit done._

Tanya took a deep breath as she felt the power of her Type 95 grow within her. 

“ **Holy Apostles, bear witness to the greatness of God** ,” chanted Tanya, raising her rifle. Her subordinates did the same, each prepping their own spell formulas.

“ **Kneel before the greatness of his merciful light, and submit before the greatest mercy he has bestowed upon you**.” Tanya continued.

As the reticle of the front of her gun showed, aiming towards the encampment, she sensed that the others were waiting for her to take the first shot.

 **“All of those that defy Him must burn** ,” she finished. 

“Target: Enemy HQ,” came the shout of her Captain Weiss.

“Fire!” ordered Tanya.

All at once, the combined shots of the 203rd erupted from their guns, heading straight towards the Free Republic base.

Tanya heard none of it however, as instead upon exiting her gun, her bullet seemed to swell with pure divine energy to the size of a cannon shot. 

Needless to say, the base never stood a chance. The explosion ignited the sky, with a mushroom cloud reaching higher than any mage could ever hope to get. The wave of fire erupting from its base burned any trace of the Free Republic resistance to ash. 

None were left in its wake.

Tanya smiled as the 203rd cheered. “Talk about a house of cards,” she said jokingly as she removed her flight goggles. “It was practically blown away in the wind.”

“It was remarkably easier than expected, commander,” agreed First Lieutenant Koenig, also removing his goggles.

“Practically foot soldiers with that speed,” joked First Lieutenant Neuman.

“A shame I was unable to offer support to the major,” said Captain Weiss.

“For all their bravado, they sure were handled pretty easily,” laughed First Lieutenant Glanz.

“All thanks to the Major!” cried First Lieutenant Serebryakov.

Tanya shook her head amusedly. “While I appreciate the gesture, men, we are on a battlefield.”

“Of course!” cried Weiss. “My apologies, madam.”

Tanya felt the slight dejection of her troops. _Well, might as well let them have their fill_.

“We were ordered to return to the fatherland, however,” Tanya stated. “So why don’t we let the others handle the remains and leave this shithole of a desert!”

At the chorus of cheers by her men, Tanya smiled. 

“Let’s enjoy a well deserved vacation!”

Suddenly, as if on cue, everything stopped. Tanya’s grin froze for a moment. She shifted her eyes slightly to notice the gigantic fissure of a nutcracker set in the sky.

_No. NO!!!_

As if to further emphasize this point, a blinding white light shone from the sky, blinding her as she felt her surroundings disappear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tanya took a look around the space she had appeared in, taking in her surroundings. It was by far the most elegant room she had ever laid eyes on. Marble columns reaching towards the pristine replica of a painting that’s name escaped her. Trees bearing golden fruit she couldn’t identify. Despite that, the only feeling Tanya was feeling was pure, unfiltered rage towards the individual carefully grooming the trees.

“Ah, my lost little lamb,” said the figure, turning to her. “It has been too long.”

“But not long enough,” came Tanya’s retort, smiling evilly. With magical speed, she whipped out her pistol, preparing to fire upon the figure, only to feel her entire body freeze in place.

“It seems you still refuse to believe,” said the so-called god. 

Tanya screamed, her face contorting into an ugly, rage-filled mug. She soon began to visibly shake as Being X’s power kept her in place.

“Violence is prohibited in Heaven, my lost lamb,” said the being. 

That gave Tanya pause. She turned her head from side to side, taking in the sights, before stifling a laugh.

“This… is Heaven?” she cried, chuckling. “This is it?”

Being X’s brow seemed to furrow. “You stand on the crux of thousands of worlds, and you have the gall to ask if ‘This is it?’”

Tanya started openly laughing. “It seems you still have the _egregious_ ego,” she taunted.

Being X’s eyes flashed threateningly for a moment, before he closed them and took a breath in a remarkably human gesture of regaining composure.

He opened them again. “I did not bring you here to My home for us to squabble like animals.”

Tanya squinted her eyes. “What. Another salesman stomp on your ego?”

Being X exhaled forcefully before summoning a chair. With a wave of his hand, he forced Tanya into a sitting position and moved her into the chair. He summoned one for himself (A luxurious marble throne, of course) and took his own seat. 

He looked at her with a crafty gaze. “There is a situation in another world that cannot be overlooked any longer,” he declared formally.

Tanya blinked for a second, then began laughing hysterically.

“Normally,” said Being X through his teeth and the blond’s laughing. “I’d let the minor deities of that world handle it.”

Tears started to well up in Tanya’s eyes from laughing so hard.

“Unfortunately, they seemed too incompetent to handle it themselves, so naturally I have to…”

“So,” Tanya said, trying to force down her laughter to get her sentence out. “You thought… to summon _me…_ of all people to fix _your_ problem?”

Being X’s eye twitched as he could see the obvious amusement dancing across the loli’s face. He said nothing in response to the question.

That silence was confirmation enough for Tanya. Soon she redoubled her laughter, her cackling grating against Being X’s psyche. 

“What makes you _think_ !” cried Tanya. “That I’d do _anything_ for you!?!”

Being X took a deep breath again before standing. He proceeded to stride towards the trees around him.

He gestured towards them and waited for her cackling to die down. Soon, her laughter died away, giving way to curiosity. 

“Each of these fruits,” said Being X. “Is a world I hold dominion in.”

Tanya’s eyes widened, and it gave Being X an odd sense of joy to see the arrogant Devil of the Rhine snarl as the realization of what that meant registered in her head.

Being X unfroze her to allow her to gaze upon the trees while also teleporting her gun to his side. 

Tanya’s gaze flicked towards the trees and fruits, her gaze hardening at the site of the sheer amount of them there were.

“Naturally, my reach is far,” said Being X.

Tanya said nothing.

Being X deftly picked one of the golden fruits, one that had a darkened blemish on it.

“This is the problematic world,” Being X said.

Tanya turned to him, her eyes on the blemished fruit.

She squinted her eyes.

“The threat is serious enough to blemish worlds,” said Being X.

“To repeat my previous question, _what makes you think I’d help you?_ ” Tanya asked vehemently.

Being X’s lip curled. “If this problem is not contained, these blemishes will spread to _all_ these worlds.”

Tanya glared at him. “This may surprise you, but how is this supposed to persuade me?”

“Your world is among these.” Being X said simply.

Tanya rolled her eyes. “And so, we’ll handle it _without your help_ in that world,” Tanya said nonchalantly. “Is that all?”

Being X stared at her maliciously before replacing the fruit back on its tree, the stem magically attaching itself to its branch. With that, Being X strode over to the other group of trees and plucked another fruit from its branches. This one was without blemishes. He turned and handed it to Tanya.

“ **By the power of the Greater Gods, I grant this mortal the site of Yggdrasil,** ” said Being X before handing the fruit to Tanya.

The moment it touched Tanya’s hands, She gasped as image after image flooded into her mind. Skyscrapers, cars, planes, cell phones, computers, apartment buildings, trains. For a moment she saw everything of her old world, of the world she had been in. It felt so _tangible_ , as if she could reach out and there she was. She felt as if she was almost…

Suddenly, it was gone as she registered the fruit leaving her grasp. She tried to grab it, but it was swiftly held out of her reach.

“Give it back!” she cried, trying and failed to jump to reach it.

“It seems the fish does have its bait after all,” said Being X.

Tanya soon regained composure over herself, only to see the fruit returned back to its branch.

“What was that?” Tanya shouted.

Being X smiled. “That was your old world, the world I took you from.”

Tanya blinked. “What?”

Being X curled his lip. “I am loath to do this, but you have given me no choice.”

Tanya stared up at him as she understood what he was going to say before he even said it.

“In exchange for eliminating the source of that blemish, I shall return you to your old world.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They sat in silence for a while.

For Tanya, she could hardly believe it. Returned to _her_ world? Her old world? She had never expected something like this to happen. Indeed, not in anything she could have predicted. She snuck a glance at Being X, and noticed his eyes were hardened in an annoyed way. It gave her a slight ping of joy to see that whatever this _thing_ was, it was pushing him to do something as drastic as this.

Nonetheless, the fact he was offering to return her to her original world made it impossible to refuse.

“You expect me to do a job like that alone?” Tanya asked, suspicion lacing her voice.

Being X’s gaze seemed to harden even more. “I have already prepared arrangements for support. Not even _you_ can hope to defeat it with your power alone.”

Tanya seemed to squirm at that. Being X almost seemed to be _afraid_.

“If I succeed, you cannot renege on his,” Tanya said daringly.

Being X snarled. “I am God. My word is beyond sacred.”

Tanya exhaled. “Then I guess I can’t refuse.”

Being X, with a wave of his hand, materialized a contract. It floated towards Tanya, who suddenly realized a ballpoint pen was in her hand. Looking it over, she carefully signed it. Once that was done, both the contract and the pen disappeared.

“So, what is it I’m killing?” Tanya asked dismissively.

Being X plucked the blemished fruit from its branch again. “It’s name is Ainz Ooal Gown.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright then! Chapter 20 is done and with it, we begin to see that the Gods aren't going to stand around and let the Ruler of Nazerick simply waltz in and do what he wants! How will Tanya and Ainz stack up against each other?


	21. The Only Thing We Have to Fear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, guys. February was absolute hell for me. No internet, combined with a metric shitton of work. My Chapter postings are going to be a bit spotty for a bit. At least until everything settles down.

A few weeks had passed, and soon the fringes of winter could not be held back any longer. Monsters big and small retreated into hibernation for the coming months, and the once-deadly forests surrounding Axel now seemed to fade into a peaceful wood. To the Adventurers of Axel, this meant kicking back and relaxing. To one particular adventurer, however, this meant one thing.

Training

“How much farther?” whined Megumin, clutching her shoulders to keep herself from freezing.

The Armor-clad overlord turned to her. “I thought you would delight in the opportunity to practice your explosions?” 

Megumin groaned. “Not if it meant freezing my butt off.”

Despite her complaints, Ainz drudged on. In truth, he couldn’t feel the cold, as his status as an undead gave him resistance to it, but he could tell by Megumin’s rosy cheeks and the slight rustling of the trees that the temperature was indeed lower than it had been.

That, and Megumin’s attire.

Ainz had almost gawked at the seeming ridiculousness of it. Gone were her overdramatic red wizard robes, instead replaced with a creamy white poncho. Red and yellow triangles lined the edge of it, and two massive buckles kept it closed tight and warm. Megumin’s hat seemed to be some foul imitation of some sort of creature, with two black eyes crossed over with yellow felt. Jutting from the side of her head were two black cones, she sporting a set of yellow tassels at the end of it. Underneath all of it, Megumin seemed to be wearing a black skinsuit, only for it to reach down towards her mid-thighs. All in all, Ainz couldn’t possibly imagine her maintaining her body temperature with something that impractical, but somehow it seemed to be doing the job.

“We aren’t much farther,” said Ainz, taking care to watch for slight marks in the trees. A while back, he had asked Aura to find a sort of clearing in the event they would need to make a dummy Nazerick similar to the one she had been constructing prior to their transportation to this world. Now, he was willing to put that foresight to good use.

Soon they could see the edge of the treeline, and as they entered a massive clearing sat before them.

“An empty field!?!” cried Megumin. “You’re going to have me blow up an empty field!?!”

Ainz turned to her with a questioning glare.

“This is far enough away from Axel that you wouldn’t potentially blow up one of the walls,” he said exasperatedly.

Megumin pouted, but clammed up.

Ainz sighed. “But, I admit. It would be pointless if you didn’t have a target.”

With that, Ainz extracted two scrolls from his back. The first was a simple [Greater Create Structure] scroll, and could be easily replicated. The second, however...

Ainz almost squirmed as he extracted it from his storage. Unlike his other scrolls, this wasn’t written on simple parchment. Decorated with elaborate jewels and encased in a cylinder of pure silver, the scroll seemed to glisten in the nonexistent light. Ainz could practically hear the tiny gasp of Megumin as she saw the ornate scroll.

Ainz tossed the paper one into the air. As swiftly as it left his handle, the scroll unfurled and burst into purple flame. Suddenly, a massive tower erupted from the ground in the center of the clearing. It continued to rise until it towered well over the treetops. Satisfied, Ainz then took the ornate scroll in his hands. He unfurled it, revealing the insignia of Ainz Ooal Gown decorated across luxuriously red felt.

“I claim this structure in the name of my guild,” Ainz stated. 

The Guild symbol glowed white for a moment, before disappearing altogether. At the same time, the symbol reappeared on the tower before fading into the stone.

Ainz refurled the scroll before turning to Megumin.

“Now then,” he said simply. “To properly judge your current power level, I want you to blow up the tower.”

Megumin blinked for a moment before nodding.

With that, Ainz took a step back as Megumin continued to chant.

“ **King of Darkness, Blackened with Flame! Show this mighty warrior your unholy star! Summon onto me your brightest of smites! Leave nothing standing in your burning fury!** ”

“ **EXPLOSION!** ” finished Megumin, the fireball that was rapidly swirling around her reaching its peak. As the fiery circles around the tower pulsed, the ball of fire shot outwards from Megumin’s staff and collided with the tower. In an instant, the entire tower erupted in a column of flame, the shockwave almost reaching the treeline. Ainz simply stood, appraising the explosion and the spell as the column lasted a full minute before dissipating. As the last of the explosion shrunk away, Ainz walked toward the massive crater.

“I’m afraid I must apologise,” said Ainz. “I underestimated your explosion spell.” Ainz would have smiled as he turned to see…

Megumin face down in the dirt, a pleasurable smile on her face.

“Glad you… like it,” said Megumin euphorically.

Ainz would have blinked if he could. A quick check of her mana signature showed that she was completely tapped out.

“That used all of your mana?” Ainz asked, surprised.

Megumin said nothing.

Ainz sighed as he extracted a small silver bracelet from his magic storage. He strode forward and slid the bracelet on Megumin’s free wrist.

“Woah!” cried Megumin as she jumped into the air. She blinked for a second as she started shaking, but not from the cold. She looked at her wrist. “What is this?”

“It is a [Bracelet of Restoration],” said Ainz. “It replenishes your MP… your Mana at an accelerated rate.”

Megumin looked at her wrist again as a wide grin spread across her face. “I feel amazing!”

Ainz would have smiled if he could. He turned back to the ruins of the tower and outstretched his hand.

“By the authority of the Guildmaster, I command you to reassemble.”

Suddenly, the ashes of the tower seemed to reform as every piece of the tower and ground beneath it returned to its place. Soon, the tower was completely reassembled.

Ainz turned back to Megumin. “Try your spell again, but this time…” Ainz held up a finger. “No chanting.”

Megumin pouted, but nodded. With that, Ainz returned to his spot as Megumin resumed her previous position. She closed her eyes and seemed to take a deep breath. 

“ **EXPLOSION!** ” she cried, outstretching her staff.

Suddenly, Ainz felt something… wrong. Fiery black circles suddenly surrounded the tower as the sky darkened. A black fireball materialised at the end of Megumin’s staff and started to spin wildly as mana from Megumin fed it. 

“ **[Greater Magic Shield]** ,” casted Ainz, forcing his shield to surround the entire clearing.

As the shield materialised, Ainz quickly glanced at the fireball and…

Ainz froze.

The fireball almost dwarfed Megumin, and he could see the girl was significantly more terrified than he was. 

“Megumin!” cried Ainz. “Cut it off!”

Megumin turned to him fearfully as the fireball shot away from her and collided with the tower.

Many things happened at once after that. Ainz’s shield broke. He felt the ornate scroll on him start to heat up.

And he felt himself become propelled backwards as a black mushroom cloud erupted from where the tower previously was, scorching the earth and the surrounding forest. Ainz winced as he hit tree after tree, only to see the trees in front of him turning to blackened cinders, then ash, then nothing as the black shockwave chased him through the forest. As he crashed into stone, his vision became impeded by the visor of his helmet. He hesitated for a moment, waiting to feel those blackened flames roll over him, only for silence to greet him. After a moment, he tried to rearrange his helmet to see, only to find the visor was completely melted. 

_ Shit _ , though Ainz.  _ If that blast could melt Divine Class armor… _

Ainz’s thoughts suddenly had a crushing realization.  _ Megumin _ .

Chucking his helmet aside, he rushed into the ashen forest.

“Megumin!” he cried. He was met only with silence. Ainz started to panic, only for his emotional inhibitor to kick in. He quickly cast  **[Life Essence]** , checking to see if any health bars showed up. He quickly caught on showing up in the distance. Using speed that should greatly defy his size, Ainz rushed towards the bar, intent on making sure the archwizard was alright. As he neared the bar, he quickly noticed that the ashes of trees were quickly morphing into singed trees, and singed into whole. As he came upon the health bar, he quickly noticed that while it was low, it wasn’t empty. Indeed, as he neared the owner of the bar, he could barely make out the shape of Megumin.

Ainz rushed over and carefully lifted a fallen tree from the young mage. It seemed the tree had protected her from the majority of the blast.

“Megumin, are you alright?” he asked.

The young archwizard looked pale. The snow hat she had worn before was gone, most likely embers, and a portion of her poncho was singed. Nonetheless, she seemed alright and slowly tried to get up.

“I’m...fine,” Megumin said as she struggled to face him.

Ainz winced as he noticed the many cuts and bruises on her face and torso.

“I have a Health potion,” said Ainz as he extracted one of the…

_ Shit. _

...Blood red potions from his magic storage. Ainz hadn’t wanted these to be used yet, as they had no way of reproducing them. Nonetheless, desperate times call for desperate measures. As he turned back from retrieving his potion, he froze as Megumin stared at him with pure fear on her face.

Ainz looked at her confused. “What is it?”

Megumin paled. “Y-y-your undead!?!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kazuma collapsed to the ground, his hands on his knees as he took a moment to catch his breath. His sword laid a little ways away, its previously gleaming edge caked with dust and dirt. Numerous sweat stains and dirt caked into every crevice and pore of his adventurer’s garb. He shook slightly, both with fatigue and rage, at the white-dressed noble in front of him. 

“Come now,” came her haughty call. “We aren’t getting tired already, are we? We just started!”

Kazuma scowled. They had been practicing for the past hour. He took his chance to glance at Darkness, only to see her resting her forehead against the hilt of her sword, which was plunged into the ground and held steady by her hands. 

Kazuma shifted his gaze to the well-dressed figure leering at him. When Momon had requested that they train together, Kazuma had assumed that he meant that the Ebony-clad warrior would be teaching him some of the OP skills he had.

What he had not expected was the relentless beating of his well-dressed companion.

Kazuma looked enviously at the treeline to their right where the Black Warrior had taken Megumin through. No doubt he was teaching her some awesome new skills involving some intricate magics.

“Honestly, I have no idea what my lord sees in you,” came Shalltear’s snooty taunt. 

Kazuma jerked his head back to her.

“Nonetheless, I have paid dearly for my ignorance,” Shalltear said, shaking her head in belittlement.

“Wait, so that guy is royalty?” Kazuma asked.

Shalltear scowled again. “He is only the highest of all beings,” she said simply. “Nothing your feeble mind could comprehend.”

Kazuma almost snickered as he thought of what Aqua would have said in the scenario.

If she was here, that is. 

In fact, Kazuma hadn’t seen her at all since that crazy undead zapped the Dullahan away. He still didn’t know what had happened, and the fact that spells just seemed to fizzle and die as they neared him frightened him more than fighting the Dullahan did. 

Although he would never mention it to her face, Kazuma was starting to worry about Aqua.

“Now then, are we going to continue to lay about, or are you actually going to put up a challenge?” came Shalltear’s taunt.

As if on cue, Darkness’ writhed in erotic glee. “Your words are like ice,” cooed Darkness, hugging herself in a pleasured gesture.

Shalltear snarled again. “Not even  _ I  _ am that masochistic,” she seemed to mutter as she focused her gaze on Kazuma. “I do hope you intend to at least tire me.”

Now it was Kazuma’s turn to snarl. With a mighty bolt, he booked his way towards his discarded sword. As he grabbed it, he noted that Shalltear seemed to yawn tiredly. Snarling again, he charged, sword drawn. Suddenly, the ground seemed to shake as a massive ball of fire could be seen over the treetops in the distance. Kazuma paused, as did Shalltear, to see it slowly dissipate.

“Well,” Shalltear said, a hint of surprise in her voice. “I’m afraid I misjudged your little caster’s mettle.”

Kazuma blinked, unsure what that meant, before he saw Shalltear fizzle. Thinking fast, he narrowly dodged her swing and managed to block the underhand the swooped after it.

As the sword met with Shalltear’s clawed hand, it cracked and shattered.

Kazuma blinked for a second before falling on his butt just as Shalltear swung a third time, narrowly missing his head.

“Hey!” cried Kazuma. “I just lost my sword!”

Shalltear snarled as she stopped her onslaught.

“Stupid, pathetic human craftsmanship,” she growled as she kicked the shards of his used-to-be sword away.

Shalltear turned to Darkness, who was slowly rising and drawing her sword from the ground.

Shalltear snarled. “I hope you’d be more of a challenge.”

Suddenly, a massive black mushroom of fire erupted from the treetops, rising to meet the sky. Everyone turned in shock towards the cloud, only for a wave of heat to push them all backwards.

Naturally, Darkness fell down, her armor weighing her down, while Kazuma somehow managed to get back on his feet. 

“What was that!?!” he cried.

“I don’t know!” exclaimed Shalltear

Suddenly, Kazuma came to a crushing realization:  _ Megumin is in there _ .

Without hesitation, Kazuma started to book it towards the treeline, only for him to feel a hand hold him back. He turned to see the mask of Shalltear staring at him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Shalltear asked.

“Megumin’s in there!” Kazuma cried, trying to escape her grip, however fruitless it was.

“Whatever was in there is dead,” Shalltear said coldly.

“Including your ‘lord?’” retorted Kazuma.

He could practically feel the woman’s complexion pale at that revelation. With blinding speed, he felt her grip loosen and she blurred towards the treeline. It was by some luck that he managed to grab her just as she sped towards it.

Shalltear stopped and attempted to shake him off to no avail.

“I’m not leaving Megumin there!” cried Kazuma as he felt his body wave like a flag.

Shalltear snarled. “You really think my lord would let her die?” she retorted as she stopped and turned to him.

Kazuma stopped at that.

“You can do nothing,” came Shalltear’s cold declaration. “While  _ I _ can aid my lord. You will only be an impediment.”

Kazuma gulped as the truth hit him.

“Make sure she lives,” said Kazuma, deadpan.

Shalltear said nothing. To Kazuma, that was enough. He let go.

She was a blur as she zoomed towards the treeline. Kazuma was filled with nothing but dread at the thought of losing a party member. As he watched Shalltear enter the forest, he could have sworn he saw a flash of pink before she disappeared into the darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ainz Ooal Gown.

The name was alien, and yet demanded a sense of royalty and power. It sickened the Demon King to his core to even utter it. 

But now he had a name.

“How did you get past my barrier?” The Demon King asked calmly despite the growing unease in his mind.

“Such barriers are weak against the creations of the Supreme Beings,” stated the woman named Albedo.

The Demon King’s unease grew. These “Supreme Beings” could only be gods, but he knew of no gods that could make creatures of that magnitude. Not to mention demons.

“So these ‘Supreme Beings’ must be quite powerful,” said the Demon King, his voice still calm.

He noted the demon called Demiurge smirking arrogantly.

The Demon King was known for many things, but even he could see that he was outplayed here. Vanir would have notified him if the barrier was broken. The fact it wasn’t, and these creatures were here, means that…

“You were unaffected by my barrier, then,” the Demon King stated.

He took their silence as confirmation.

“I do believe we have business to conduct,” said Demiurge.

The Demon King squirmed, but nonetheless acknowledged the statement. He commanded two of his Lesser Demons to pull up chairs for the emissaries.

He was somewhat relieved to see them take them.

Before the Demon King could continue, however, he was interrupted.

“We have come to deliver an invitation,” Demiurge said.

The Demon King’s voice died in his throat.

“What?” said his daughter, bewildered.

Demiurge cleared his throat. “Perhaps I should rephrase,” he said. “You are being summoned by the illustrious Ainz Ooal Gown.”

Vanir’s head started to crack a bit more. 

“I’m afraid we’ll have to decline,” he said, his voice wavering slightly.

Albedo snarled, but Demiurge seemed to widen his smile.

“I’m afraid you do not have a choice,” he said.

The Demon King’s brow furrowed.

Demiurge seemed to reach into a satchel he had on his side and retrieve a small Orb. He placed it on the new stone longtable the Demon King had replaced and tapped it twice.

Suddenly, the inside of the orb started to become transparent, revealing…

The Demon King gulped.

It showed Verdia, longsword in hand, fighting a horde of undead the Demon King couldn’t recognize.

“He’s alive,” whispered his daughter, surprised.

Demiurge’s smile widened.

“My Lord Ainz Ooal Gown, leader of the Great Tomb of Nazerick, demands your presence,” said Demiurge. “I don’t think I need to tell you what would happen if you refuse.”

The Demon King, at a loss for words, shook his head.

Satisfied, Demiurge moved the orb back into the satchel he was carrying before standing up. Albedo did the same.

“Lord Ainz will be waiting,” said Demiurge. Suddenly, a massive black-and-red portal appeared in front of them. With a sinister smile, Demiurge walked through, followed by Albedo. As the portal closed, the Demon King rested his head on the table, wondering how he had gotten to this point.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>0<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Verdia plunged his sword into the ground, his head resting in the crook of his left arm, and slouched to his knees. It had been a long time since he had a chance to rest, and he was taking the chance to do so.

Ever since he had been teleported away from the gates of Axel, he had done nothing but fight hordes upon hordes of undead in this god-forsaken Amphitheatre. He didn’t even know where he was, only that the stupid undead never seemed to end. 

Never before had he regretted ever being one of the Demon King’s generals.

“Are you tired already, worm?” came the disgusted call of his overseer.

Verdia turned his head to look up at the shape above him. 

Without even seeing her face, the white and black plated maid outfit, well-kept hair, and white and black spear-staff immediately made him recognize the presence of his tormentor.

Narberal Gamma, servant of Ainz Ooal Gown, and the only person that filled Verdia with both fear and hatred in his entire unlife.

He didn’t respond to the taunt, but his silence seemed to be answer enough.

“Consider it a blessing that I will no longer supervise you,” said the maid.

For once, a small spark of hope ignited in Verdia. Would he finally be free?

Suddenly, the gate on the other side of the Amphitheatre started to open.

“In my stead, I would like to announce the presence of the honorable, Guardian of the 4th Floor…”

As the gate rose, Verdia could make out the glint of blue metal.

“...Keeper of the Frozen Prison…”

As the gate was fully opened, Verdia’s tiny spark of hope was snuffed out, only to be met with the chill of newfound fear.

“...and battlemaster of the Great Tomb of Nazerick…”

A wave of cold air blew outward from the newly opened entrance as a monstrous shape stepping into the light of the stadium.

“Honorable Lord Cocytus.”

**Author's Note:**

> There we go! This is my first fanfic, so critique is always welcome! I plan on uploading more in the upcoming weeks!


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